Supernaturally Charmed the Series: Season 2
by lexi-charmed
Summary: Prue, Piper, Phoebe and Sam are dealing with the aftermath of Yellow Eyes' vanquish, while Dean and John are searching for a way to save Adam. Will the Winchesters ever become the Power of Three again and what other family secrets have been hidden away?
1. Episode 1: In My Time of Death

**I'm back! Yes, really. Season two of Supernaturally Charmed is here! How cool is that? I know it's not been a super long wait, but long enough for some of you based on the messages I've been getting.  
**

 **I know you really wanted to know what I could do with killing Adam off in the first season. Well, all that is answered right away. I'm sure many of you has your suspicions so I'm looking forward to sharing them with you. Anyway, here is the rollercoaster ride that I promise season two will be. I'll update weekly on a Friday to space out the posting so I don't catch up with my writing. I like to be ahead just in case something happens or I need to make tiny adjustments.**

Episode 1: Starts With a Kiss  


Pain. Hatred. Betrayal. Abandonment.

Those were the four emotions running through Sam Winchester right now. His baby brother was lying dead in the living room. He hated magic; everything to do with it. All it had done was bring pain. A demon had killed his mother and that same demon took his girlfriend from him. Now that same demon was responsible for his brother's death. And what had his dad and elder brother done? Taken off.

The betrayal and abandonment he felt for them was so much more than the hatred for magic right now and the pain over losing his brother. If anyone, he expected Dean to stick around. But Dean had taken off as soon as possible, after making the decision not to summon The Trickster to make him reverse time and bring Adam back.

How could the eldest Winchester brother just decide not to save his baby brother? It didn't make any sense, and just made Sam hate magic even more. If it wasn't for magic, none of this would have happened. Mary Winchester would still be alive and the three brothers would have grown up in Lawrence as normal kids.

"What do we do now?" Darryl asked, looking up at Andy mainly. Sam pulled himself back to the reality of the situation from where he sat by the window, looking out of it. His three cousins were there, the pain and sadness evident on their faces, "I mean, this is…this isn't something we can just brush under the carpet, Andy."

"I know," Andy nodded his head, and looked over at Prue, "We need to call it in, Prue. Get Adam's body down to the morgue and…"

"No, we can't do that." Sam shook his head, standing to walk around the room. He ran a hand through his longish brown locks, trying to think of the next step. He didn't know what to do right now, but he did know what not to do. One thing he did know right now was that he couldn't put Adam's body in the morgue. He couldn't let anyone know what had happened. While he hated magic, there was still the chance that it could save Adam right now. Wasn't that why Dean had said he was taking off? Would John look for a way?

"Sam, I hate to agree with Andy about this but…" Prue started, tears falling down her cheeks.

"Dean will come through," Sam wanted to put his faith in his brother. He needed to put his faith in his elder brother. There was no way that Dean would let Adam die, "He'll come through."

* * *

What Sam didn't know is that Dean had given up.

Within 10 minutes of leaving the Halliwell-Winchester Manor, Dean Winchester knew there wasn't an option. His baby brother was dead and wasn't coming back. Even if he could come back, Dean wasn't really that certain he could bring him back.

 _What's dead should stay dead_ , was something that his dad had taught him as soon as they started hunting. Finding a way to come back from the dead was unnatural. It opened the door to monsters and creatures, and Dean wouldn't allow his brother or any of his family have that happen to them.

But this was his brother.

This was his baby brother; the one he was supposed to protect from him being a baby. He'd already failed Sam by not saving Jess. Now he'd failed Adam by not saving him—and not having a way to bring him back.

Not that he should bring anyone back from the dead. John would have already done that for Mary if there was an option. Penny would have brought both her daughters back from the dead if they could. No, Dean knew deep down that there wasn't an option out there. And because of that, he could never go back. He had to let Sam and his cousins believe he was out here looking for a way to save Adam.

"Can I get you anything else, Dean?" Jo's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. He realized now that he was nursing the last dregs of his drink. He looked up at her, a sadness in his eyes that she couldn't quite understand, "What's happened?"

"Why would anything have happened?" He asked her, instantly wiping the emotion of his face. Now more than ever he needed his poker face, and he was going to make sure it stayed. Nobody else could know what happened. If hunters found out, there was a chance they'd find out that Adam was a witch.

"You just don't seem yourself," Jo shrugged her shoulders, seeing the defenses go back up. It meant something was really wrong, "Need something to take your mind off whatever it is?"

"What would you have in mind?" Dean asked, a smirk playing on his lips. She rolled her eyes at his charm, before turned around to grab a small yellow folder tucked next to the cash register. Dean frowned, looking at it as she placed it in front of him on the bar top, "What's this?"

"I was saving it for someone else, but you look like you need it more than he will." Jo shrugged her shoulders. With a deeper frown, Dean opened the folder and pieced through the separate sheets of paper. He knew right away that it was a case.

"Ellen put this together?" Dean asked, looking up to see a frown forming on Jo's soft features. He slowly nodded with a small laugh, "You did. I'm impressed, Jo."

"So, you'll take me with you?"

Shaking his head, Dean pushed the folder back to Jo, "I'm not getting anyone else killed, Jo. If you were planning on this other hunter to take you, save it for him. I'll find my own gig."

Dean stood up and started walking out of the bar. Jo scrambled to grab the folder, before rushing over to the hunter, "What do you mean get anyone else killed?"

"I don't need to share, Jo," Dean ignored the question, "You're safer here, okay?"

Jo knew when to argue and when it was just safer to back down from a fight. The mood that Dean was in right now, she knew it was best to back down. The last thing they needed was a scene in front of the customers; not all of them were hunters. Just as Dean was about to walk out of the Roadhouse, Jo Sighed, "Dean."

Her persistence would be the death of her, one day. Dean knew that deep down, and it angered him even more. He just knew that he couldn't have someone else's blood on his hands.

"I'm not taking you on a damn hunt, Jo." Dean growled, turning back to face her but he stopped in his tracks. She just held the folder out, her dark chocolate eyes told him to take it.

"You need it more than I do."

She was right, he really did need it more than she did right now. And he'd recognized something in the folder. Thanking her gruffly, he took the folder and walked towards the door again.

"Stay safe."

"I'll call ya." Dean said, before finally walking out of the Roadhouse, hunt on his mind. But deep down, Jo knew that he wouldn't call. It was just something he said to make her feel better.

* * *

Opening credits

Starring: Shannen Doherty, Jensen Ackles, Holly Marie Combs, Jared Padalecki, Alyssa Milano, Jake Abel, T.W. King and Alona Tal

* * *

While Dean was now on a hunt, giving up on his family, John had taken one trip to a place that might be able to help. He wished he'd known about this option when Mary had died. 20 years ago, he would have done anything to bring her back, including this.

Right now, it was just a legend that he was working off. Unsure whether it would really work, John had hope that there was a way to save his youngest son. Mary would never forgive him if he didn't try everything to save their baby boy; the one that she'd given her life up to save.

Rounding the corner on the dirt road, he'd finally found what he'd been looking for. A desolate crossroad. Nobody was going to bother him out here. It would be perfect to make the deal of a lifetime.

Pulling over, John quickly pulled out the items he'd need from the back of the truck, placing them in a box. The final item was a picture of himself to make sure he did the ritual right. Finding the center of the crossroad, John placed the box into the dirt and covered it back up. Now he waited, as patiently as he could, for someone to show.

"Well, well, well," a woman's voice said behind him, "If it isn't John Winchester. I knew one of you would come."

"John turned around to face the woman. She was short—shorter than he expected—with dark flowing hair. He'd heard from others that crossroad demons liked to dress in black, but that wasn't the case with this one. She wore tight-fitting blue jeans and a Rolling Stones t-shirt with a brown leather jacket. At least she seemed to have a taste in music.

 _That's not what you're supposed to think about,_ John chastised himself, before speaking, "I wanna deal."

"You know, I was expecting your son—Dean," the woman spoke, her eyes flashing red, as she grinned with a smirk, "I would have gladly dealt with him and eaten him up. He looks so delicious."

"You'll leave Dean alone."

"For now," the crossroad demon spoke, walking around John. He didn't take his eyes off her once, staring her down while she watched him cautiously, "Eventually, I might just get to play. The name's Meg, by the way."

"Why would I need to know your name?"

"Oh, you won't, but your boys will," Meg got up close to John now, running a hand down his chest seductively, "I'll make them pay for killing my father. You didn't think we'd have heard about that already? Now, what makes you think I'm going to deal with you when the one responsible for that spell that killed him is still out there somewhere? I should let you all suffer."

John let the tears form in his eyes. He'd only hoped that the crossroad legend was real. If it was, he never expected it to be this difficult to make a deal. Why would anyone pass up a human soul?

Meg smirked, running a hand over his chest as she walked around him, "Don't cry Johnny Boy. You know the tears won't work on me. I just don't care."

Meg started walking away, and John just had one thing left to do, "Please. Just bring him back. You can have me." He waited, not watching her behind him. He couldn't bear to see her leave him standing here as he pleaded for his son's life. The footsteps in the gravel stopped, and all John could think was that this woman—Meg—had gone.

"It's a good job for you that my boss has other plans," Meg's voice now called out to him. John had a renewed look of hope in his eyes, as he turned around to look at the demon. She now turned on the spot, her heels digging into the gravel, "I can bring your boyo back, but you definitely won't get the usual deal."

"Name your price."

* * *

Andy and Darryl looked at each other in the foyer of the Halliwell-Winchester Manor. They had no other option right now. It was time to call this in. Adam's body was starting to decompose and eventually they would all be able to smell it.

"What do we tell them, Andy?" Darryl now asked in a whisper. They needed to come up with their story, something that wouldn't lead to more questions. It was even harder with Andy's neck already on the line because of the I.A. investigation.

"We need to clear it with them first, especially Sam," Andy sighed, "I just wish Dean would get back to me, already. Even if it's just to admit that he can't find a way out of this. I mean, magic can't solve everything, right?"

"I still don't…this is all too much, Andy," Darryl sighed, "I mean that, whatever it was, was meant for you. You were supposed to die tonight."

"I know, and that's why I really don't want to make this call," Andy sighed, "I owe Adam my life. I owe the Winchesters everything. I can't just…I can't just make up some story that would make Adam look like part of a coop against an I.A. investigator."

As if saved by the bell, Darryl's phone started ringing. He quickly pulled it out of his pocket, checking the ID to see that it was his captain back at the station.

"Morris? I need you back at the station." The captain said, making it clear that this was not a request. Looking over at his partner, Darryl threw an apologetic look.

"I've gotta go," he said, hanging up the phone, "I won't say anything about Adam for now. But when you have a story, let me know."

Just as Darryl left the house, Andy heard shuffling in the living room. They were all rushing towards the sun room, Prue being the first to reach the door. Andy walked through the foyer and into the sun room through the other door. When he saw what they were going in for, he couldn't believe his eyes.

Adam sat up, the sheet previously over his whole body now pooling around his waist. He looked around the room, confusion clearly on his face.

"Prue?" Adam asked, his voice raspy from a dry throat. Andy frowned, looking over at the four witches just staring at the boy on the floor.

Before Andy could do anything, the four witches ran to Adam and hugged him tightly, but there was clearly something eating at him, "Wait, I was dead."

"We tried to save you," Sam said, pulling back and grabbing Adam's face in his hands. He looked into his eyes, searching for any sign that this wasn't really his little brother, "We wanted to save you, but the Trickster…and you…"

"I was supposed to stay dead," Adam nodded his head, remembering everything from his trip to the other side. Looking around the room, he realized that there were people missing, "Where's Dean? What about Dad?"

"They took off," Phoebe now admitted, knowing she wasn't the only one to wonder whether one of them had done something, "Dean a couple of hours ago, Dad a little longer…"

Sam's eyes went wide, as he quickly made a phone call. The first call went straight to voicemail, so he tried a second number. That one went straight to voicemail, too. He just looked between this brother, three cousins and the cop.

"I don't know what they'd done, but Dean and Dad aren't answering."

All eyes went straight to Adam, as he realized that his family had done something to bring him back to life.

* * *

Dean got to Wisconsin in record time. Running away was definitely helping him put the metal to the floor. He wouldn't be surprised if he ended up with a speeding ticket or something stupid; and part of him felt guilty that his cousins and brother would be the ones to get it as a reminder that he was gone.

There were times that he wanted to go back. Throughout the drive, he'd considered turning around and giving a hunter he trusted a call with the details. This case didn't need him specifically.

But then he remembered what he was going back to. A dead brother and another who was still mourning the loss of his girlfriend. Three witch cousins who were now mourning the loss of one of their own. The pain and the memories of the last nine months. It was all too much, and Dean refused to face it all. He needed to feel useless, like he was doing something. And the only way that he could do that was by hunting—saving people, hunting things; what was now turning into the family business.

That was why he was now in Wisconsin, a small town called Fitchberg. As soon as he got here, something told him that there was something going on. It was that instinct that hunters tended to get—the gut feeling that told them there was a monster or demon nearby. And Dean couldn't help but wonder whether the witch side of him was kicking in, too.

The dead giveaway was the fact that it was a little after four in the afternoon and the playground was empty. The place should have been riddled with kids. Instead, he knew from the reports that they were all in the hospital; well, the majority of them were. The doctors had no idea what it was, but there was something going around and putting children into comas.

The hospitals may not have had any idea, but Dean certainly did. He'd faced something like this in the past. It had been long before he knew anything about hunting, but he'd seen the monster. It had led to his initial belief that the monsters in the closet were real.

Despite having a feeling that he knew what it was, Dean needed confirmation. The only way he could get that was by going to the hospital and seeing it all for himself. That was why he now found himself talking to the beautiful brunette nurse at the reception desk, pretending to be from the Centers of Disease Control. It would be the best way to talk to the pediatric doctor in charge.

"Dr. Jerry Caplin, Centers of Disease Control." He flashed his pearly whites, but the nurse was not going to just let him through. She wanted to see ID. Grinning, he covered up a section on it, knowing that it was the one that said "bikini inspector." It was just supposed to be a joke, but now it could affect this case; it had been the only one he could find in the glove compartment at the time, though, "Could you direct me to the pediatrics ward, please?"

"Sure, just down the hall, turn left and up the stairs." The nurse didn't seem to care, as he put the ID back in his suit jacket pocket. Looking around, Dean walked down the hall, trying to spot any signs of what was going on here. As he reached the next level of the hospital, he couldn't help but shake a feeling of death and despair. He really hated hospitals.

Walking towards the pediatrics ward, Dean walked past one with an old, white-haired woman. She sat in a wheelchair, in front of a window just staring. Very slowly, she turned her head to look at Dean, a dark look in her eyes. But it wasn't the look that gave him the jeebies; it was the inverted cross on the wall.

Shaking his head, Dean continued his journey down the hallway, towards a doctor who stood at a nurse's station, writing on a sheet of paper.

"Hi, there, I'm Dr. Jerry Caplin from the CDC, I'm look…"

Dean was cut off by the doctor, who looked at him with raised eyebrows, "I was just about to call the CDC. I'm glad you're here. How'd you find out about this?"

"Oh, some GP, can't remember his name," Dean easily lied, feeling like he hadn't been out of the hunting game at all, "He called Atlanta and, uh, he must've beat you to the punch, Dr…"

"Heidecker," the doctor smiled, "So, I'll get straight into it, shall I? I've got six cases so far. Six cases in five weeks. At first, we thought it was garden variety bacterial pneumonia. Not that newsworthy, but now…" Dean frowned, waiting for the doctor to continue. Heidecker looked towards the doorway to the pedatrics ward and then back at Dean, "The kids aren't responding to antibiotics. Their white cell counts keep doing down. Their immune systems just aren't doing their job. It's like their bodies are…wearing out."

"Have you ever seen anything like this before?" Dean asked, frown deepening. The more he heard from the doctor, the more he was certain that this was something he'd seen in the past. His family had just been lucky at the time.

"Never this severe." The doctor shook his head, as a nurse walked over with some paperwork for him to sign. While he did that, the nurse picked up the conversation, explaining that it was spreading in a very strange way. It worked through families—the children at least—on sibling after another, and all the children were left in comatose states.

"Can I, erm, talk to the parents?"

"If you think it'll help." Dr. Heidecker nodded his head, and led Dean through the ward to the most recent admission. For Dean, the interviewing was just part of the course to make sure he had all the information he needed. But he was still certain that he'd already faced something like this.

* * *

" _Hey, Dad. Can I ask you something?" 19-year-old Dean asked, as he and John drove to Texas for another case. He'd enjoyed the last year being on the road with his dad, but there'd been something playing at his mind for a couple of months._

" _What about Dean?"_

" _Well, I was just thinking back a few years," Dean sighed, "You remember that monster that I said I saw floating over Adam's bed? You and Grams rushed in and scared it away…"_

" _Dean, that was just a dream," John shook his head, "We told you that."_

" _Yeah, Grams told me that. I was 10, Dad. I'm guessing Grams didn't want me knowing about monsters and demons at that age," Dean glanced over at his dad and waited. He could tell from the lack of facial expression that Dean was on the right lines, "That was a real monster, right? One after Adam?"_

" _Yeah, son, it was," John finally resigned, "It was one that I'd been hunting for a while. I'm still hunting it—whenever it shows up again."_

" _You didn't get it? But I know I saw you shoot it. That definitely wasn't a dream, Dad."_

" _I shot it but…" John sighed, running his hand over his face, "It's one I failed on. You wanna know what it was?"_

" _Yeah, Dad, I do."_

" _Okay then."_

* * *

That was the night that Dean found out the truth about the creature that had attacked them in their home. It was one that not only had the guts to go up against John but also against Penny. That was one crazy and suicidal creature; or one that knew it wasn't that easy to kill it.

The more he talked to the father of the most recent admission, the more he was sure it was this thing coming back. The one creature that John Winchester had not managed to get yet. With a sigh, he knew there was one place he would have to go first, just to make sure this was the creature and not something else just as if not more dangerous.

* * *

Darryl walked through the station to the jail cells. He couldn't believe what he'd just heard. A man was here, taking credit for the killing of an I.A. investigator and trying to pin it all on Andy Trudeau. Not just that, but the man was even saying that he'd been working with Inspector Rodriguez this whole time; the inspector he'd seen vanquished not that long ago.

What was even worse was that Darryl had a name—one that he couldn't believe. As he reached the jail cell, he stopped and shook his head, "What are you doing, John?"

John Winchester looked up from where he sat on the squeaky, uncomfortable bed, tears in his eyes. He was leaning forward on his legs, eyes previously closed almost as if he'd been praying to someone or something.

"This is the best way," John sighed, "I had to save him, Darryl."

"Save him?" Darryl now frowned, fear filling his dark eyes, "Save who? Andy? We would have found a way around that…"

"Not just Andy," John shook his head, "I needed to save my boy. I couldn't let him rot."

"Oh God, John, what did you do?"

It was then that Darryl realized that John hadn't just turned himself in for something he didn't do. He didn't just risk himself being locked up behind bars for the rest of his life. Or he had, but only because he knew something that nobody else didn't. It all started to make sense once he got a phone call from Andy. Hanging up, Darryl looked over at John with a frown.

"Adam's alive," he said, and didn't miss the look of relief on the father of three's face, "He just woke up suddenly, asking why he's not dead anymore."

"Can you get him here so I can see him? Can you get all of them here?" John asked, standing up and walking over to the bars, "I need to see them all."

"I'll see what I can do, but I can't promise anything," Darryl sighed, "But I can't get all of them here. Dean…he took off shortly after you."

"Dean left?" John asked, panic filling his eyes, "No, please don't tell me he's done what I just did."

"What did you do, John?"

"It's best you don't know," John shook his head, "Just please...get them here if you can."

Darryl sighed with a nod of his head, walking away from the jail cell. John suddenly had a thought, and shouted out to stop the detective, "I get a phone call, right?"

"Yeah, you want your lawyer?"

"No, I need to call Dean."

* * *

To be on the safe side, as Dean walked around the bedroom of one of the most recent victims, he had his EMF meter out. He wasn't sure if he'd get anything from it, but it was worth a shot. When he got nothing, he sighed and put it back into the jacket of his suit.

There was the chance that the kids had come down with a strange case of pneumonia, like the doctor suspected. He wouldn't know the first thing about the tests that were done in there, but something deep down told him that this was a case.

Walking over to the window, Dean looked at a possible entrance point. That was when he saw it. There was a handprint rotted into the wood. Considering the weather in the area, it was possible for rot to set into the wood, but surely someone would have seen something like this sooner? And how did rot form in the shape of a handprint.

No, he definitely knew what this was. He was becoming more and more certain that it was the thing his dad had told him all about.

* * *

" _So, it came after Adam?" Dean asked, looking at his dad incredulously, "It was going to put him in a coma."_

" _Him, and then Sammy and then you, Dean," John nodded, "I'd spent weeks tracking this creature but I thought you were all safe. Your Grams had promised me that you'd be safe. But then she left you with the babysitter for that one night. If it wasn't for me getting back home to you in time and if it wasn't for you walking in the way you did, Adam…well, I'm not sure what would have happened to him."_

" _But you didn't go after the creature?"_

" _I couldn't, Dean," John sighed, rubbing his face as he kept his eyes on the road, "This creature can only been killed while it's feeding and it wouldn't come back after realizing I was onto it. It left town that night and I haven't seen it since. Promise me that if you ever see the signs that its back, you'll go after it and kill it dead."_

" _Yes, sir." Dean nodded, and knew right there and then that it was a promise he was going to keep._

* * *

Now he was seeing the signs. He'd been through it all, and he was certain. This was that creature and it was time to kill it dead, as his dad had put it. Somehow, Jo had collected all the information about the case, everything he needed to know that he was definitely dealing with the one thing that he'd faced before he even knew that this stuff had existed.

As he went back to his car to get to the nearest motel, he made a quick phone call. He owed someone for this and he needed a bit of help for the rest of it.

"Harvelle's Roadhouse." A voice said on the other side of the phone, making Dean smile. It was just who he wanted to speak to.

"Hey, Jo, it's Dean. Erm, thanks for the case."

"Solved it already? That was quick!"

"Not quite," Dean sighed, "I could do with your help. I'm trying to find a motel right now, but could do with some info. Think you could do some research for me?"

"Dean Winchester calling for help?" Jo asked with a laugh, but it sounded like she was switching the phone to the other side; possibly to make a note of something, "What do you need?"

"I need information about a shtriga," Dean replied, "They're kinda like witches, I think. All I know is my dad once faced one and…"

"So, why don't you talk to your dad about it?" Jo asked, bringing up something Dean kicked himself for. He'd been trying to avoid this whole subject. When he told her that he couldn't talk to his dad, of course more questions came up. He just couldn't face it right now, "Well, what about asking your brothers or cousins to do this research?"

Dean fought back the tears that threatened as he thought about his family. This had been part of the reason for taking the case. He needed to forget about everything that had happened, "I can't, Jo. Do you wanna help with this hunt or not?"

The shortness in his tone made it clear that he wasn't up for discussing anything. Laughter disappeared from Jo's voice, as she quickly asked for more information so she could start her research, "I'll get back to you as soon as I can, okay?"

"Thanks, Jo."

Dean hung up, just as he spotted a motel. Pulling in, he thought back to his family. What hadn't helped was when he walked in to check in to find two small children. One had been about nine or 10, and was pouring his little brother some cereal.

* * *

" _Here you go." A 13-year-old Dean said, placing a bowl on the kitchen table. Six-year-old Adam sat at the table, looking down at the bowl with a frown._

" _But I wanted Lucky Charms, Dean."_

" _There aren't any more, Ads," Dean sighed, walking back over to grab a cup off the draining board so he could pour some juice for his brother._

" _I saw the box." Adam moaned, all he ever wanted was Lucky Charms. Between him and Sam, they were pretty much all gone. But Dean really wanted a bowl. It wasn't often that he thought of himself first. Living with three cousins, two brothers and an aging grandmother had made him put other people first. His dad constantly on the road could have led to Dean being selfish, but his family meant the world to him and he would do anything for them._

" _Okay, so maybe there's enough for one bowl," Dean sighed, not sure why he was making such a big deal about this. It wasn't like Grams wouldn't get them some more. Maybe it was just the fact that he gave everything for his brothers and younger cousins. Both he and Prue always did, and they missed out on a lot because of it. Hitting puberty really wasn't helping him, either, "I haven't had any yet."_

 _Adam threw his brother his puppy dog eyes. While Sam's were more effective, Adam's were good. Dean knew that when Adam got older, he'd be a heartbreaker. Dean tried his hardest to not give into the look, but eventually the 13-year-old broke. He was going to have to change that when it came to girlfriends; he knew that now._

" _Okay, fine," Dean sighed, grabbing the box of Lucky Charms from behind the breadbin. He passed the box to his brother and then a fresh bowl. He'd take the other cereal he'd poured this morning, "Just don't tell the others I gave in that easily."_

" _Promise, Dean." Adam grinned, and then pulled the toy out of the box. Looking at it, the six-year-old handed it to his big brother._

* * *

"Sir?"

Dean was pulled from his thoughts as the woman behind the counter gave him his credit card back. Dean took it with a small smile, mentioning just how much she had a great kid in there looking after his brother. It wasn't an easy job being an older sibling, and even when the baby sibling died, the job didn't stop. Dean was now feeling even guiltily for leaving them all behind to deal with his brothers body.

* * *

Prue, Piper, Phoebe, Sam and Adam followed Andy through the police station as quickly as possible. They couldn't believe what they'd been told. John Winchester had turned himself in for a crime he hadn't committed. Sure, it was to help Andy, but they couldn't understand why he'd done this. And if he'd done this, how had Adam been brought back to life?

Sam fretted as he walked. Nobody had heard from Dean yet. They had no idea where he was, or whether he was even still alive. Had he somehow switched his own life for Adam's? Was that even possible? Surely he wouldn't do something like that.

The five witches and police officer walked into a room. Darryl had managed to pull some strings to get John into an interview room, the camera turned off. It was the only way they were allowed to have this chat, and John had stressed that the chat was important.

John looked up as his family walked into the room. He was more concerned that one certain person was there. As soon as he saw Adam, he stood up with a grin and rushed to his boy, "I'm so sorry, Adam."

"What did you do, Dad?" Adam asked. He didn't have the fears that Sam had. He didn't think that Dean was involved. Something told him that John was, and that was why he'd turned himself in for something he didn't do; something that he couldn't have done if people really looked into it, "What the hell did you do?"

"I had to, Adam. I couldn't let you rot. I wouldn't."

"Oh, Uncle John," Prue sighed, "What have you done? How could you turn yourself in like this?"

John looked over at Andy, a small smile on his face, "There is no way you were going to lose your job for protecting my family. If I can do one thing, it will be to make sure you can continue the work that you do."

"John, you can't do this," Andy shook his head, "I won't let you. Neither will Darryl…they'll find out…"

"There'll be questions about where Rodriguez is," John shook his head, "You'll still be blamed for it all, unless I do this. Will you just thank me already?"

Andy didn't want to, but he knew it was the only thing that he could do. With John turning himself in, the police investigation wouldn't be as strict. His captain would eventually exonerate him and put all the blame on John, but he couldn't let the hunter do this, "I can't let you do this. You won't be able to save people behind bars."

"There's not much I can do now," John shook his head, before turning to his second son, "Sammy, I am so proud of you. I always had high aspirations for you boys and you've surpassed them. Even after getting your powers and Jess' death, you've shown such strength, Sammy. You amaze me so much."

"Thanks, Dad." Sam frowned, feeling like this was a goodbye message. Before he could even ask about it, John turned to his nieces.

"You three have grown up to be such beautiful, kind, caring women. You take after your mother, all of you. She would be proud of you all. Prue, keep taking care of your sisters but don't forget to have some fun yourself. Piper, you are a smart, kind, strong woman. It's time you remind people that. Don't hide behind those bangs. Phoebe, oh sweet Phoebe. You have always been the little hell-raiser. You and Dean together…" John's voice cracked as he thought about his eldest son and the chance that he would never get to say what he wanted to him. Clearing his throat, he looked back at Phoebe, "You and Dean together drove your Grams crazy. I think when Dean left she was a little relieved."

Phoebe couldn't help but laugh, tears falling down her cheeks. She knew deep down that this was a goodbye. There was something in John's posture and his words that told her that. She had no idea what had happened or how Adam was back, but she knew it was a goodbye. All of them did.

"Dad…" Adam croaked, tears forming in his eyes, "What did you do?"

"You don't need to know, son," John hugged his youngest son again, "You really don't need to know. Just know that I love you. I always have and I always will. I want you to put all this behind you. Protect the innocents that need you and go to college. I know you're thinking about taking time off, but you need to go. You always wanted to be a doctor, Adam. Now you get to live that dream."

"John, I'm sorry, but I gotta take you back." Darryl sighed, looking at his watch. There was only so much time he could give the man with his family. He hated this, especially knowing that he was an innocent man, but John had confessed; that was worth more than anything else.

John nodded, looking at Darryl, "I get that call first though, right? I need to call him, Darryl."

"You'll get your call."

"I need it tonight."

"What's going to happen, Dad?" Sam grabbed his father's arm, looking into the man's dark eyes, "Let us help you? We can stop this."

"No, you can't and I don't want you to." John argued, before turning back to Darryl, asking him to take him back to his cell—suggesting they go via a phone. The five witches and Andy were left alone, all knowing deep down that it was going to be the last time they saw John Winchester.

* * *

Dean sat on the bed in the motel room, laptop on his knees. With Jo on the phone, he was able to look at the information she'd sent to his email. Well, not exactly her. It was Ash, who Dean remembered lived at the Roadhouse. The MIT ex-student had taken to sleeping on pool tables and worked the bar when Ellen and Jo needed time off. In his off time, he had a range of computers doing all sorts, and would always bring up information that Dean was struggling to find.

"Well, you were right. Ash said that it was quite easy to find," Jo wanted to disagree considering how long she'd been searching first, "The shtriga is a type of witch. Albanian in nature but traced back to Ancient Rome."

"Yeah, I can read, Jo." Dean chuckled, looking through the email she'd sent. She muttered some reply, but Dean chose to ignore it, "Hey, what's this spiritus….spiritus vitae?"

"It's Latin," Jo replied, making Dean roll his eyes. He'd figured that part out, but needed to know what it meant, "It translates to 'breath of life.' Ash thinks it's like a life force or essence. Help at all?"

"Lots, actually, Jo. Thanks," Dean couldn't help but feel grateful that she'd put all this together and now she was coming through with the research. He couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like to have her here on the hunt, but then he remembered what he was staying away from. He wouldn't have someone else's blood on his hands, "You know, the doc said the kids' bodies were wearing out. I guess this thing could be taking the vitality and the immunity goes hell. It makes sense for pnemonia to take hold."

"Hey, Dean, it says here that shtirgas can feed off anyone, but they prefer kids," Jo seemed to ignore anything that Dean had said, but he assumed that she was still looking through some notes, "They're also invulnerable to all weapons devised by God and man. I don't think there's a way to kill it."

"There is," Dean rubbed his eyes, "She's vulnerable when she feeds. Consecrated wrought iron, buckshots or rounds…"

"How do you know that? I thought you needed help with this thing."

"There's bits that I still remember," Dean sighed, deciding to go into some of the details, "My dad once faced one and told me about it. I just don't like the idea of having to put some kid in danger to get it to feed so I can kill it."

There was a silence between the two of them, neither seeming to know what to say next. It was Jo who finally broke the silence, "You sure you want to do this alone. I can still come out…"

"I'm okay, Jo," Dean cut in, making it clear that this was not up for discussion. As much as he'd gotten used to having company the last few months, he was going to get used to working alone again. At least, he was going to get used to being alone for hunts again, "'Sides, your mom'd kill me if I got you to drive all the way out here."

After a few more minutes, Dean hung up the phone and got back to work trying to find the shtriga. He didn't want to have to wait for it to attack again, so he'd have to work out where it was staying. There was another thing that he remembered. The creatures disguised themselves when not feeding, and they would always sit within the hunting ground.

When he checked the map, he found just what he'd expected. The hospital was right in the middle of the hunting ground. That was where he'd gotten the strange vibe from the old woman. It wasn't just the woman but the inverted cross that had really caught his attention. He would need to pay her a visit tomorrow.

* * *

Sam hung up the phone and threw it on the kitchen table. Dean still wasn't answering, and Sam was now officially worried. While he was now certain that his dad had done something to bring Adam back from the dead, he worried about what his brother was doing. His voicemail was full, which indicated that he hadn't bothered checking his messages so he had no idea that Adam was alive.

"I was thinking about driving out to the Roadhouse." Prue said, walking into the kitchen, quickly followed by Phoebe and Adam.

"Why the Roadhouse?" Phoebe asked, frowning as she sat down next to Sam. Adam quickly got to work to make lunch, while Prue grabbed the keys from the hook.

"Because Dean sometimes goes there to get away from everything," Prue explained, deciding that it was time to get more proactive about looking for her eldest cousin. Sure, he could be anywhere in the United States right now, but there were a few places that he might check into first or during. All she really wanted to do was tell him that Adam was alive again. He needed to know that, "And Ellen _might_ know where he's gone if he went on a hunt."

"I'm coming with you," Sam stood, pocketing his phone and following her out of the house, "I'm done leaving messages that he's not listening to."

The two cousins left the house, leaving Phoebe and Adam alone. Adam turned to Phoebe, holding up packs of meat, "Which one?"

* * *

Dean had managed to sneak his way up to the floor where the pediatrics ward was, so he could get to the old woman. It was late and visiting hours were definitely over, so he couldn't pass off as that. He could possibly pass off as the CDC doctor again, but he was sure nurses would say there was a better time to come. That meant he was left to sneaking around the halls and hiding as doctors and nurses passed him.

One of those doctors just leaving for the night was Dr. Heidecker. Dean hid behind a wall as the doctor said goodbye to a nurse, who encouraged him to get some sleep. By the sounds of it, he was a doctor who took his work home with him. His wife or girlfriend must love that.

Once the doctor had gone, Dean stepped back into the corridor and quickly made his way back to the woman's room. The door opened with a slight creak, making Dean wince. Luckily, the woman looked like she was asleep, and he was able to get in without any more noise. Pulling a gun from the back of his jeans, he aimed it at the woman. Her white hair glistened in the moonlight, as she sat in her wheelchair facing the wall. Dean walked around her, seeing that her eyes were closed. There was a sort of peaceful look on her face, and he hesitated about whether she was the creature or not.

"Who the hell are you?" The old woman shouted, making Dean jump back in shock. When she opened her eyes, he saw white covering her pupils. There was no way she could see, but she definitely sensed him in the room, "Who'se there? You trying to steal my stuff? They're always stealing around here." The last part was a grumble, and Dean couldn't help but frown. Someone like this? There was no way she was the shtigra.

With a sigh, Dean turned the light on and put his gun back into the back of his jean, Sorry, ma'am I'm maintenance. I thought you were sleeping."

"Nonsense," the woman laughed and then pointed towards the upside down crucifix on the wall, "Fix that, would ya? I've asked four damn times already!"

Taken aback, Dean did as he was asked and quickly got out of the room. That definitely wasn't his creature, so he was back to square one.

What he hadn't realized was that the shtigra was already out getting its next victim, and that victim was closer than he expected. It had gone after the youngest son of the owner of the motel that Dean was staying in. The next morning, the mother would wake to find her boy ill with the same strange pneumonia that had affected so many others in the area.

* * *

Prue didn't feel as out of place when she stepped through the doors this time. She'd made sure she was in comfortable clothing, and walked in with her head high and shoulders back. Sam was close behind her, a frown on his face as he surveyed the room. He was clearly looking out for Dean, just in case he was still here. Prue was sure he wasn't though, if he'd even been here in the first place.

Glancing at the bar, Prue saw Jo wiping the top. A man with long blonde hair sat at one side, a laptop without a cover on the top of it. He was typing a million miles per minute, staring intently at the screen.

"Hey, what can I get ya?" Jo looked up with a smile and then grinned when she saw Prue, "Hey, Prue. Good to see you again."

"You, too, Jo," Prue wished it could have been under better circumstances, "This is Sam…"

"I remember you from when you came to pick ya dad up," Jo grinned at the tallest Winchester. Holding her hand out, she waited for him to take it, "Nice to meet ya prop'ly. I'm Jo. So, what can I get ya both?"

Prue remained standing, too impatient to order a drink. She wanted to find out where Dean was right now. As soon as she asked, she noticed the frown forming on the blonde bartender's face, "He didn't tell you? He went on a hunt in Wisconsin."

"Wisconsin?" Sam asked, sighing as he rubbed his eyes, "He really has gone out of his way to get away."

Jo's frown deepened, as she looked between the two witches. As Ellen walked out from the back, Jo couldn't help but prod further, "You know, he didn't look happy when he was here. It was almost like he was running away from something. What's go on? What's he running from?"

"There was a demon attack," Sam sighed, "Dean ever tell you about the Yellow-Eyed Demon?"

"Yellow Eyes?" Ellen asked, walking to stand behind her daughter as she looked between the two witches, "He's back? John know about it?"

"Yeah, erm, he's gone," Sam nodded, now looking directly at the older woman. The look in her brown eyes told him that she knew just how dangerous that demon was—and just how much it meant to his dad, "He…Long story short, Adam was killed…" Sam quickly continued before anybody could jump in with shocked remarks. He'd even seen Ash look up from the computer with uncertainty in his eyes, "He's back. Dunno how yet, but he's back. Dad's in jail right now and Dean's taken off. I need to find my brother. He doesn't know Adam's alive and he's not answering our calls."

"I haven't seen him, Sam. I'm sorry."

"He just called me last night," Jo sighed, "Needed some help with some research. Next time he calls I can get him to call you, if you want. Not sure what good it will do. I'm really learning that when Dean doesn't wanna do something, he won't do it."

"Yeah, he can be a little too stubborn," Prue sighed with a small smile playing on her lips, "But if you could even just tell him that Adam is fine, that would be great. We're still trying to work out who has done what, but we don't want Dean doing anything stupid."

As the two witches left the bar, Jo walked into the back and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. She wasn't going to wait for Dean to call her. She was going to call him and let him know the news.

* * *

Dean had gotten up at first light the next morning. Four hours sleep was just enough for him to function on, although he'd been getting used to getting more while living at the Manor. The domesticated life was doing nothing for his hunting.

Needing breakfast, Dean quickly got a shower and got out of the motel room. He didn't have long and would need to get something to go so he could get straight back to the research. The old woman turning out to be a blind bat and not the shtigra meant that he was back to square one, and he hated being at square one.

As he walked past the office, he couldn't help but look over at the small boy sitting on a bench outside the front office. It was the elder kid of the motel owner, and Dean didn't miss the sad, scared look on his face.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Dean couldn't help but ask, sensing that this was more than just a telling off that he'd gotten. He recognized that look as the one he'd seen staring back at him in the mirror.

"My brother's sick," the boy answered, "Got pneumonia. He's in the hospital. It's my fault. I shoulda made sure the window was latched. He wouldn'ta got pneumonia if the window was latched."

Frowning, Dean knelt in front of the boy and looked into his eyes, "I can promise you that this is not your fault, okay?"

"It's my job to look after him." Dean understood that responsibility. He still remembered the order to get out of the house taking his two brothers with him as it burned to the ground. John regularly reminded Dean that he had to take care of his brothers while they all lived with their grandmother. Even now, they were his responsibility and he'd failed his baby brother.

"Michael, I want you to turn the no vacancy sign on while I'm gone," the motel owner said as she rushed out of the office, placing everything in her SUV as quickly as she could. The single mom was running at a mile a minute, "I've got Denise covering room service, so don't bother with any of the rooms."

"I'm going with you!" Michael argued back with his mother, but she wasn't going to take him. She needed to get there, and it was clear that they'd had this conversation already. Looking over at the mother, Dean quickly knew how he could help the situation.

"Hey, Michael, I know how you feel.I'm a big brother, too. But you gotta go easy on your mom right now, okay?"

As she rushed to get everything in the car, the mom dropped her purse, possessions flying everywhere. She quickly swore, before bending down to pick it all up. Helping her, Dean got a closer look at her. The woman had clearly not slept all night, and had been stressing all morning. He could only guess how it would feel having a child in the hospital, but he knew what it was like to have a brother dead.

"Listen, you're in on condition to drive. Why don't you let me give you a lift to the hospital?" Quickly making it clear that it wasn't an option for the woman, Dean got her to sit in the passenger seat of her SUV and then climbed into the driver's seat. He made the decision there and then that this thing was going to die tonight.

* * *

Jo hadn't got an answer from Dean all morning, making her worry. Finding out that Adam had died and then come back to life scared her. Prue and Sam made it clear that they thought it was something supernatural. This wasn't a case of CPR helping in the nick of time.

As she hung up from trying to call Dean again, she started wondering whether Dean had somehow found out she now knew about Adam's death or that Prue and Sam had just been to see her. She even wondered if he knew Ash was now tracing his credit card trail to see if he'd deviated from his hunt, because she had to admit she'd been wondering that. Maybe he'd taken the hunt as a ruse, but was really searching for ways to bring Dean back.

The sound of her phone ringing pulled her back to reality, and she smiled when she saw it was Dean.

"Hey, sorry I was driving someone to the hospital," Dean sighed, "Everything okay?"

"Well, erm, not quite," Jo admitted. She promised herself not to lie to Dean about this, so jumped straight into it, "Why didn't you tell me about Yellow Eyes and Adam?"

There was a tense silence on the other side of the phone, but Jo knew that Dean was still there. She could just hear him breathing, "How did you find out?"

"Sam and Prue were here," Jo admitted, "They've been trying to get hold of ya."

Dean sighed, and it was clear that he knew all this. Jo wasn't going to give him a chance to hang up on her, "Adam's alive. That's why they've been trying to call. They wanted you to know. They dunno how yet, but he's alive. Dean…"

Dean's heart had started racing as relief flooded his system. His baby brother was alive and okay...wait, no Jo just said alive. And she never said how or what the others had done to make it happen.

He was asking question after question; stuff that Jo couldn't answer because she didn't know. It was clear now that he'd run away to get away from it all because he'd beaten himself up about losing his brother. She knew what family meant to the man, always had since she met him three years ago. That was what had attracted her to him right away. He was loyal to his family, and anyone who became family.

"That's not the only reason I've been trying to all you, though, Dean," Jo now knew that he was definitely in Wisconsin for this case, and he'd want to finish it before coming home to see his brothers, "Ash has been doing some digging into the Shtriga. He mentioned a case in San Francisco about 15 years ago. We're guessing that was when your dad faced it."

"Yeah," Dean agreed, clearly snapping his head back into the game. Jo couldn't help but wish she was there with him. She'd much rather be there for him; let him know that there was someone for him to lean on right now. He didn't have to go through everything in life alone, "So, what about that case?"

"Well, there are more cases," Jo sighed, "Every 15-20 years, it moves to a new town. It's been to Ogdenville, North Haverbrook, Brockway…this thing is just getting started where you are and it'll go for months before it just disappears and moves on. The kids have never recovered. They go into comas and die."

Dean cursed on the other side of the phone, "How far back's this thing go?"

"Ash isn't too sure yet; needs more time," Jo sat down next to Ash, looking at the computer screen, "There's a mention of Black River Falls in the 1980s. It was a serious horror show. Ash is sending you everything to your email now so you can check it out. Maybe there's something that will mean more to you since you're there."

"I'll check it back at the motel. Thanks, Jo," Dean said, and then paused. Jo didn't speak, not really sure about what to say now. It was Dean who broke the silence this time, "Listen, if you speak to Sam, Prue or any of them again, will you tell 'em I'll be back as soon as I finish this case?"

"Sure thing, Dean." Jo smiled, before hanging up the phone and looking over at Ash. Her smile dropped as she clicked on something Dean had just said. He never called it _home_.

Dean glanced at the email alerts coming through to his phone. Ash had been quick at getting the information to him. He was a genius when it came to research—and there was a fair bit connected to this case. Looking through bits of the information from his phone, he saw that there was a pattern. Every 15-20 years this thing would move on. It was probably the easiest way to avoid suspicious and prevent too many officials getting word of this strange pneumonia doing the rounds.

Opening up and attachment, Dean saw that it was an image. He was about to close it, deciding that it would be better to look at it from a laptop, when he noticed something peculiar. The sepia-toned photograph had a few children laying in hospital beds, surrounded by doctors. There was one of those doctors that looked mighty familiar, even though the picture had been taken in 1893.

"So, what's the CDC come up with so far?" A voice asked him, making Dean look up from where he sat in the waiting area. Quickly closing down his phone, Dean stood up and glared at the familiar face from the photograph.

"We're still working on a few theories, Dr. Heidecker," Dean nodded with a forced smile, "You'll know something as soon as we do."

"Well, nothing's more important to me than these kids. Just let me know if I can help."

Dean just nodded and waited for the doctor to walk away. One thing he couldn't know right now was that Dean was onto him. He wasn't going to let this creature disappear again. He wouldn't see it again for another 15 years, and he didn't want any of these kids to die.

* * *

Piper was just getting out of her car as Andy pulled up. Deciding to wait for her sister's boyfriend, she hoped there was some good news. While she'd been at work at Quake, she'd found out that Dean had gone off on a hunt, wasn't answering his phone and there was a high chance that he was getting himself killed. At least, that was the way that Sam had put it. Dean was blaming himself for Adam's death—and still didn't know that he was alive—so was running away from it all; because that was just how Dean dealt with things.

And then when it came to John Winchester, she found out that Andy was trying to get him out of jail. After all, he was there for a crime that he didn't commit.

"So, how'd it go?"

"Darryl's still trying, Piper," Andy sighed, walking into the house with her. Prue, Phoebe and Adam were sitting around the dining table, waiting for any news, "I can't get him out, though. There is some good news—but I don't like the way it's happened. I have officially been exonerated."

"But that means John…" Piper started, and stopped mid-sentence. Nobody needed to hear her finish it, and Andy was nodding as if she had anyway. It meant that John was being charged with everything he had "confessed" to.

"Did he get to make the call he wanted to make?" Adam asked, hope filling his eyes. He was sure his dad had done something. That call had seemed far too important; like he needed to tell Dean something as a dying wish.

That was when recognition filled Adam's brown eyes. He looked over to Phoebe, quickly, "Have you ever come across anything in the Book of Shadows about switching souls?"

"What do you mean?" Phoebe asked, taken aback by the question, "As in body switching?"

"No, as in someone switching their soul for someone else's in the afterlife," Adam shook his head, looking around the room at everyone, "As in my dad switching his soul for mine."

"But if that happened, John would be dead, wouldn't he?" Phoebe frowned, trying to get her head around the idea. Surely both of them couldn't live at the same time. As soon as Adam had woken up, John would have died. As much as it seemed to make sense, it couldn't have been the case. Not exactly, anyway.

"Thanks, Jo. Just let me know if you hear from him again or if you find out anything different." Sam hung up the phone as he walked in from the kitchen. Sitting down, he informed them all about Dean's plan to come back once he was finished with the case. One thing was certain, Dean wasn't letting innocents die, despite now knowing that his baby brother was alive.

* * *

Dean threw his jacket onto the chair as he walked into the room. He should have thought of all this before. It was the perfect disguise. Who would bat an eyelid if a doctor was constantly around a sick kid? Especially a pediatric specialist! A doctor was trusted and would be able to control the whole situation. Of course Hiedecker had been involved in the whole thing.

The knowledge helped the case, but it also helped to make him more agitated. It had taken so much control not to attack the son of bitch right there and then, but he couldn't. If he had, it would have meant he'd have gotten away. The weakness was while he was feeding. It also didn't help they were on the pediatrics ward. Like he could have open fired on there.

It also didn't help that he wasn't armed at the time. He hadn't thought about arming up before getting there, but that was a good thing. For once, not being armed had helped him keep his calm.

The only good thing was that he now had a plan to get the creature, but it meant putting someone at risk. Shtrigas worked through siblings, and right now there was a young boy's brother still in the motel. Michael was just going to end up being a meal if Dean didn't stay with him tonight, and he wasn't about to let that happen. Even though his brother was alive—and he really wanted to know how that was possible—he still didn't want anyone else to die. He would make sure this kid didn't become the next meal, and instead was the reason everyone was saved.

He knew if he called Jo she'd call him nuts. Hell, he was even thinking that he was nuts. How could he even suggest using a 10-year-old kid as bait for a monster? But it was the only choice he had right now, as crazy as it sounded.

He still felt guilty for Adam almost dying 15 years ago. Had Dean not walked in, there was a chance John would have gotten the creature then, but no he'd walked in just as the creature was feeding. John had gotten there too late. The shtriga had already bolted to protect itself and then disappeared. Adam was safe, but the other kids had died from their comatose states.

 _But using Michael? Wouldn't it be better if it was you hiding under the covers?_ Dean could almost hear the voices of his cousins and brothers. They were like the angels on his shoulder, while his own thoughts were the devil. Hiding under the covers wouldn't work. He needed to make sure this creature fed, and that meant it had to get close enough to him. He really didn't like the idea, but it was the only one he had.

The trouble was convincing Michael to go through with it. At first, the 10-year-old didn't want to believe that this creature was real. Of course he didn't. He shouldn't have to know that the things that went bump in the night really existed. Kids should believe that the monster in the closet wasn't real. Hell, Dean would have given anything for his brothers and cousins to believe that the monsters were still myths and legends.

Michael was panicking, holding the phone up so that he could use it, "Just go away or I'm calling the cops."

"Hang on a second," Dean held his hands up in defense, trying to make his eyes as warm as possible, "This thing came through the window and it attacked your brother. I've seen it and I know what it looks like, 'cause it attacked my brother once, too."

Narrowing his eyes, Michael slowing hunt up the phone before he started talking, "This thing…is it…like…it has this long black robe?"

Dean suddenly realized that the poor boy had seen it last night. He wanted to believe it was a nightmare, and he'd give anything to be able to tell him that it was but there were times that nightmares are real. The only reason he was letting him know was that the knowledge was power right now, and he desperately needed the 10-year-old's help.

"I can kill it," Dean made it very clear that this boy was not going to end up in harm's way. The 27-year-old hunter would be there every step of the way, but he needed the kid to act as bait. Of course, he didn't put it that way. One thing that Dean did have was a knack with words. He played the big brother card; focusing on the kid's little brother Asher, who was still in the hospital right now. Asher wasn't going to be safe until the creature was dead.

It did the trick. Despite Michael looking at the hunter with terrified eyes, he nodded and agreed to being the bait that Dean desperately needed right now.

It was a lot to ask of a kid. Dean knew that, but he also knew that it was so important. Luckily, Michael seemed to accept it, too. That didn't mean he wasn't scared. Dean could see from the security feed in the other room, while Michael pretended to sleep in his own bed that he was terrified of what was about to happen.

Just before they got to this point, Dean had told Michael all about the security camera he was setting up. It would have night vision, so there was no need to keep a light on. For the shtriga, it would be like nothing was different; like they weren't onto him. Something in Michael seemed to settle, but he was still scared and Dean got it. If roles were reversed and Dean had been asked to do this when he was a kid, he'd be terrified. It was bad enough finding out that nightmares were real.

Now all the two had to do was wait. It didn't take long for the shtriga to turn up, and then it was on with the plan. Dean had already explained that Michael was to stay down. Dean would have a gun when he entered the room, so Michael would need to get off the bed right away and crawl under it. He wasn't going to put the boy's life at risk anymore than it needed to be. While Michael worried about getting shot, Dean threw him a cocky, confident grin. He was a good shot and he wouldn't fire until he was clear.

Once the shtriga was in the room, Dean watched it crawl over to Michael, long fingers and nails reaching out to him. Impatiently he waited for the creature to get to Michael and start feeding. It seemed like it was going to take forever, but Dean knew that the extra time meant more time for him to plan. He just needed to stay calm right now. The last thing they both needed was for him to jump the gun and let the shtriga know he was onto it. He couldn't let it get away like it had caused the last time.

Dean just watched as the shtriga leaved over the bed, over the top of a terrified and frozen Michael. The hunter couldn't help but wonder whether Michael would be able to act fast enough when he went into the room. He couldn't worry about that right now, though.

Just as a white fog appeared between Michael and the creature, Dean took it as his cue to burst into the room. The doors slammed open as Dean raised his gun with the consecrated iron rounds.

"Michael, now!" Dean ordered, waiting a couple of seconds for Michael to roll off the bed and onto the floor. Dean open fired on the creature, hitting it a couple of times in the chest. Once he was happy that it was gone, Dean rushed over to the young boy, "Michael, you okay?"

"Yeah." Michael nodded, and Dean could just about make him out under the bed. Like Dean had previously told him, he stayed there with his hands covering his ears. After all, real gun shots were much louder than they were in the movies. He'd need to protect his hearing.

"Sit tight, okay?" Dean said, before holding his gun ready. There may have been no movement, but the hunter wasn't taking any chances. Kicking the creature once, Dean visibly sighed with release. He was gone.

At least, that's what he thought. Just as Dean told Michael it was safe to come out, the shtriga jumped up and grabbed Dean, throwing him hard into a wall. Dean was disorientated for a moment, as the shtriga grabbed Michael and started sucking the life force out of him. The 10-year-old screamed before turning grey. There was only one thing that Dean could do.

With a flick of his wrists, Dean froze the scene. Both the shtriga and Michael froze on the spot. The best thing was, the creature froze in the middle of eating. Despite not wanting to risk the kid's life, Dean knew this was the best chance at shooting and finally killing this thing. Dean got into a position so he wouldn't catch Michael, even accidentally, and then shot the creature right between the eyes.

Michael and the shtriga unfroze at that moment, with the shtriga letting go of the boy and screaming out loud. White fog released from the bullet wound, as well as the creature's mouth, eyes, ears and nose. It was the life force leaving and—hopefully—returning to the kids. While this happened, Dean raised the gun again, and from a point-blank range shot the creature three more time in the head. He wasn't taking any chances this time.

Once the shtriga disintegrated into nothing, leaving behind just a black cloak, Dean rushed over to Michael, "You okay?"

"Yeah," Michael nodded, "Is he gone?"

"Yeah, kiddo," Dean nodded with a proud smile, "You did good. Well done." He didn't miss the proud grin that Michael let off after getting the praise, and Dean couldn't help but wonder whether he didn't get that much on a regular basis from his mom.

* * *

The next morning, Dean was packing his belongings into the Impala when Michael's mom pulled up into the parking lot. His job was done, and that was clarified when he heard that all the children in the hospital had woken up. It was like a miracle, but Dean knew that really it was just one creature down. Unfortunately, there were plenty more out there.

One of those could have been back in San Francisco. During the hunt, he'd been able to take his mind off the situation back there. Adam was alive and Dean couldn't help but fear the worse. Something had to have happened for Adam to come back from the dead. Dean certainly hadn't found a way—not that he'd managed to look very hard. He'd just accepted that what was dead should stay dead.

Making the journey back home wasn't easy. All he could think about was his own little brothers and the evil that they'd faced over the last year. It wasn't something that he could go back to doing. He couldn't put their lives at risk anymore. That was going to be a difficult conversation to have.

* * *

Andy walked through the jail, hoping that he could talk some sense into John. It wasn't right that he was going to send himself away for the rest of his life for a crime that he didn't commit. Sure, Andy was now cleared of all charges and working again. He'd even had an apology from his captain, but that wasn't right. He wanted John to be a free man, too.

As he walked up to John's cell, something didn't look right. He could see a hand reaching out through the iron bars, laying along the floor. The hand wasn't moving, and was open with limp fingers.

"John?" Andy called out, rushing over to the cell. As soon as he saw John laying on the floor, he knew that it was too late. Calling for help, he just had to hope that his instincts were wrong. John Winchester couldn't be dead.

* * *

The Halliwells and two Winchester brothers sat impatiently in the Halliwell-Winchester Manor. Jo had called to say that Dean looked like he was on his way back. He hadn't called, but Ash's trace on his credit cards indicated that he was leaving Wisconsin and heading back for them. Now they just had to wait for him to get there.

It didn't take Dean too long to get back from Wisconsin, hinting that he hadn't decided to take any detours. The front door opened and slammed closed, Dean urgently walking into the house.

"Adam?" Dean called out, instantly looking over at his baby brother. Adam jumped up from where he sat on the couch, locking eyes with Dean. The two of them stared for a few moments, before finally rushing over to each other. It was soon clear that Dean wasn't going to let go now that he had his youngest brother in a bear hug, "How? You were dead. You were…"

"I know," Adam nodded, now getting out of his brother's grasp so he could look into his eyes, "I was but…I don't know. I don't know what happened."

Dean looked around the room, but everyone had the same confused but happy expressions. They were just relieved that the Charmed Ones were back together again.

Prue's cell phone brought everyone back to the moment. Checking the caller ID, she started rushing out of the room, "It's Andy."

"So, what do you remember?" Dean asked, more concerned about his brother coming back from the dead. He knew it didn't just happen. There was help from somewhere, whether it was good or bad.

"I was…somewhere, Dean. I was with Grams and Mom and Aunt Patty…"

"Mom?"

Adam nodded his head, tears forming in his brown eyes, "I was with them and then I was pulled away. I woke up here."

"Erm, guys," Prue spoke, walking back into the room, tears in her own blue eyes. She looked between the Winchester brothers, her hand at her mouth, "Andy…he…that…it's your dad…"

 **Guest Cast List:**

Samantha Ferris as Ellen Harvelle

Jeffrey Dean Morgan as John Winchester

Dorian Gregory as Darryl Morris

Rachel Miner as Meg

Brock Kelly as 19-year-old Dean

Dylan Everett as 13-year-old Dean

Jackson Brundage as 6-year-old Adam (think Jamie Scott in One Tree Hill)

Colby Paul as Michael

Venus Terzo as Michael's mom

Mary Black as Old Woman

Jeannie Epper as The Striga

Adrian Hough as Dr. Heidecker

* * *

 **Phew! That's the first episode out of the way. What do you think? Were your theories right about how I would deal with Adam's death and Andy's issues with the police force?  
**

 **I'll be back next week with an episode. It's a conversion of Skin and Everybody Hates a Clown...yup two Supernatural episodes but needed. I'm having fun with Supernatural more than Charmed this season.**

 **Please R &R as I'd love to hear your thoughts. Reviews fuel me to keep writing, even when I'm struggling with time and motivation.**


	2. Episode 2: Imitation Is the Deadliest

**Hey guys! Thank you so much for the support on the first episode of this season. I know that there have been a few questions raised, and the answers will come out over the season. I can't just bring them all out in the one episode, huh?**

 **So, as I said, this chapter is a mixture of Skin and Everybody Loves a Clown...**

Episode 2: Imitation Is The Deadliest Form of Flattery

The police officer walked through the house, his gun already raised. There had been calls to say that a woman had been attacked by a young man, in his late 20s-early 30s. This wasn't just any home invasion, though. There'd been the sound of guns firing and by the time the police got there, a young girl was tied to a chair, bloody, in tears and terrified.

As the officer went to check on the girl, the SWAT team moved through the house, coming across a man with his back to them. The man was trying to open a set of doors leading to a balcony when they got there.

"Freeze!" One member of the team shouted, all guns trained on the young man, "Don't move!"

The man put his hands up, showing off the bloody knife in his bloody hands. As the police shouted orders at him to drop the knife, the man turned around to grin evilly at the SWAT team. This was all a game for him. As he turned, they all missed the flash of white eyes in the light from the torches, indicating that he wasn't exactly human. They also missed the fact that this was Dean Winchester. _The_ Dean Winchester.

* * *

 _48 hours earlier…_

Dean was on the road, getting as far away from San Francisco as possible. This was the second time in a week that he'd left the town for similar reasons. The first time it was because his brother had died. Now Adam was back alive, but his dad had died; and his dad had turned himself in for a crime he hadn't committed. That was something Dean would never understand, unless John knew that he was going to die.

Something deep down told him there was something just too coincidental about his dad's death and his brother's resurrection. John had done something, but Dean needed to work out what it was.

But he couldn't do that in San Francisco. He'd given his dad the hunter's funeral he would have wanted—not that his brothers and cousins agreed with that—and got straight on the road. It was the middle of the night, but he didn't want the conversation with his brothers. He hadn't even swung by the Roadhouse to see Jo and Ellen. He just couldn't do it. He needed to be alone—they needed him to be alone right now.

Yet, he wasn't going to be completely alone. It was time to really get his mind off everything, and there was a great way for him to do that. It was why he was on his way to St. Louis to see an old "friend." By friend he meant someone he could have some fun with overnight.

It was early in the morning by the time he reached his destination, but he didn't mind. He just hoped his friend wouldn't mind. Pulling up outside her house, he smiled up at the house. It hadn't really changed, and the girl still drove the same little dark blue Mazda 6. At least it shone in the St. Louis sun.

Knocking on the door, Dean grinned as he saw the blonde-haired beauty open the door. Her eyes instantly went wide as she saw him, "Dean! Oh my God! What are you doing here?"

"I thought I was long overdue a visit," Dean grinned, getting the feeling that she wasn't completely happy to see him. There was a forced smile on her face and a sadness in her green eyes that he recognized in his own, "How are you Beks?"

She instantly ran into his body, wrapping her arms around his waist. Concerned filled his eyes, as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, feeling them shudder. One thing he didn't like was a crying girl, but Beks would only cry if she was really upset. Something had happened for her to act like this.

"Hey, hey, what's happened?"

"I…Oh, God, I'm so sorry, Dean," Beks apologized, pulling away from the hunter and walking back into the safety of the house, "C'min. There's something I need to tell you."

* * *

That morning, as the sun rose in San Francisco, Piper was rushing around the house. She hadn't heard from Dean that morning, and he was usually an early riser when he had things playing on his mind. His dad's death and his brother's resurrection were certainly going to be playing on his mind. When she couldn't find him in the kitchen, she ended up checking on him in his room. The bed was made—as if it hadn't even been slept in—and there was no sign of her eldest cousin anywhere.

"Have you seen Dean anywhere, Phoebs?" Piper asked, walking through the living room to get to the sun room. Phoebe scoured through the job ads, but looked up to shake her head at Piper's question, "He's not in his room."

Phoebe glanced out of the window, "The Impala isn't there. Maybe he's gone out."

"Did anyone hear the Impala last night?" Adam asked, walking down the stairs while rubbing his eyes. His green pajama bottoms were way too long for him, and he couldn't help but life them up from covering his feet while he walked into the living room, "I guess Dean went out, but I never heard him come home. And I was up researching until 3am."

"Researching?" Piper asked with a frown, wondering whether there was a demon, warlock or something else coming after them. It had been a week since Yellow-Eyes and had been quiet. Piper wondered whether evil was regrouping after the vanquish of the Yellow-Eyed Demon.

"To see what brought me back," Adam shrugged, "Dean not back then?"

"I guess not," Piper sighed, "I actually wanted to talk to him, see how he was. He's usually up before me when he's got things on his mind."

While they chatted, Prue and Sam walked down the stairs, discussing something about their living situation. The house was cramped, especially now that it was all six of them back under one roof.

"Actually, I was thinking about that," Adam turned to face his brother and cousin, "When I go to college—and yes, I am going in September—I'm gonna move out of the Manor and into dorms. I guess dying and coming back has made me want to actually live my life."

"Are you sure?" Sam asked, a concerned frown forming on his face, "I don't want you feeling like you're getting kicked out. I only moved back in to get through Jess. I can move out again."

"No, you stay," Adam shook his head, "Surely it's a right of passage to live in dorms. Isn't that what Dean told you when you told him you were going to Stanford?"

Sam nodded with a smile, as Adam pointed out that all of them had gone to live in dorms when they went to college. It was about time that Adam got out of the house he'd spent the majority of his life in.

As they discussed their options, Prue glanced across at a note by the phone. Frowning, she wondered whether someone had called while she'd been asleep or in the shower. Instantly recognizing the handwriting as Dean's chicken scrawl, she frowned trying to read it.

"Erm, guys," Prue stopped the conversation dead, holding up the note, "Dean's left."

"Yeah, during the night. Guess he decided to go to a bar…" Phoebe nodded, but then saw her sister shake her head. Prue didn't mean he'd gone out for the night. He'd left again; turned his back on his family for the second time in a week.

* * *

Opening Credits

* * *

"You know my brother, Dean. He wouldn't do something like that." Beks cried, as Dean listened to every word she said intently. He couldn't believe it. Yes, he did know her brother. Zack wouldn't hurt a fly, let alone do the things he'd been accused of.

It turned out the police had him in custody for the murder of his girlfriend; and it sounded like it was an extremely gruesome death. But no matter how much Dean thought about it, he couldn't picture it happening. For one, there was the fact that he knew Zack. For another, Zach and his girlfriend were happy; at least, they were the last time he saw them. Granted, this was going back a couple of years ago, but by the way Beks talked, they were happy as ever.

"I was crashing here for the summer when everything happened," Beks explained, now getting herself composed to do some more explaining, "My folks are out in Paris where they spend half of the year. They're flying back now, so should be back in time for the trial."

"Why don't you tell me what happened, Beks," Dean held her hand, as she took another deep breath, "What happened so we can get the real guy that did this."

"I don't know how you think you can help, Dean," she shook her head, confusion in her green eyes, "The only way he coulda done it is if he was in two places at the same time. The police say they have a video, showing Zack getting home at was killed just after that, but I know Zack was here. He was here until after midnight. When he got home, he found Emily tied to a chair, dead.

"Maybe I can help," Dean sighed. He'd never told Beks what he really did when they met, but he did make it clear that he helped people, "If I can get a look at the crime scene. I'm guessing it's Zack's house."

"What can you do, Dean? And I'm not sure it will be good for the case."

"Okay," Dean nodded his head with a shrug of the shoulders, "If you just want me to be a shoulder to cry on, that's fine. I'm here to support you."

"You didn't come here for this, Dean." Beks laughed, shaking her head. Dean smiled and agreed, but there was nowhere else he wanted to go. He didn't leave a damsel in distress, and Beks clearly needed someone that she could talk to right now. Dean Winchester was good at being that person.

* * *

Prue and Sam went to the one place they could think of to get some answers. Harvelle's Roadhouse was quickly turning into a place to just turn up on the fly, and it was clearly Dean's favorite watering hole. The only problem was Dean clearly wasn't there. As soon as they got to the parking lot, there was no sign of the Impala.

Walking into the bar, Sam couldn't help but frown at the man sleeping on the pool table. The whole place was empty, not yet open for business. However, Ellen was cleaning the top of the bar, getting ready to open.

"Hey you two, what can I do for ya?" Ellen looked up with a soft smile, "How y'all holding up?"

"Erm, we've been better." Sam admitted, deciding not to sit down. Ellen could sense there was something wrong, and stopped cleaning the bar top. Placing her hands on it, her hazel eyes bore into the two witches in front of her.

"Well? What's up?"

"Have you heard from Dean at all?" Prue asked, walking over to the bar and sitting down. She placed the scrunched up note that Dean had left them in the middle of the night on the bar. Ellen took it, frowning deeply as she read the handwriting.

 _Had to go. Don't look for me._

 _I'm sorry._

 _Dean_

"Did he say why he was leavin'?" Ellen asked, passing the note back to Prue, looking between the two of them. There was clear concern in her eyes, realizing that he was trying to run away from his problems—or seek answers from dangerous creatures. Either way, Dean was on a road that could end up with him no longer with the land of the living.

"Adam heard him leave in the middle of the night—thought he was going to a bar," Sam shook his head, "He's not dealing with this. He doesn't talk to many people and…we're scared, Ellen. Please, if you've heard from him…"

"I haven't," Ellen shook her head and then walked through to the back, calling for her daughter, "Where's Dean?"

"Back home, isn't he?" Jo shouted back to her mother, before walking into the bar, "Haven't seen him since the funeral." Ellen passed her daughter the note, and she sighed with a sad, hurt look in her eyes. It was now turning into a case of all hands on board.

* * *

The problem was that it couldn't be all hands on board. While on the phone to Bobby, Adam had learned of a case close to home. A couple had been murdered, leaving a child behind. It wouldn't have sounded all that strange for San Francisco if it hadn't been for a couple of other deaths happening around the same time with the exact same M.O.

There was also the mention of a clown. The kids had seen it just before it had murdered their families. Bobby was certain that it was a case, and Adam wasn't about to say no. Anything to make it seem like they could get past everything that had recently happened.

* * *

Meanwhile, in St. Louis, Dean had managed to get out of Beks' house to take a look around Zach's house instead. There were a few things that she'd said that didn't sit right with him, and one of those was him being in two places at the same time. As much as the police wanted to believe that security cameras were always right, they could be changed. Things could take control and it certainly led to the possibility of people seeming to being in two places at the same time. One thing he did trust was Beks being certain that her brother was with her until at least midnight.

As he walked around the crime scene, Dean pulled out his EMF meter. There was no sign of any thing on it, but that didn't mean something hadn't attacked Emily and made itself look like Zach. A skin walker could easily disguise itself.

The whole crime scene hadn't been cleaned up yet. There was blood everywhere, on all the surfaces in the living room where Emily had been tied up in a chair. This wasn't a quick killing. The woman had been tortured before she was murdered. Sure, there were sick humans out there but something really told Dean that this was a case.

As he walked through the apartment, he got to the back door and opened it. The neighbor's dog started growling and barking at Dean.

"Who's there?" A man asked, walking out onto his balcony. Dean smiled with a small wave.

"Just still doing some digging." He quickly flashed one of his fake badges to make it look official, which seemed to appease the man; one of Zach's neighbors. The neighbor couldn't help but mutter something about the dog needs to be put down. The murder had really changed it.

Frowning, Dean looked over at the neighbor, "What do you mean changed?"

"It used to be a sweet friendly dog," the man shrugged his shoulders, "Ever since the murder…well, it changed. Owners won't put it down, though. Barks and growls at everyone."

The man disappeared back into his own apartment, leaving Dean to think about everything himself. Fido may have seen something. After all, animals can have a sharp sense of the paranormal. It was looking more and more like his kind of problem. Now all he needed was the security tape to confirm it. That wasn't going to be as easy.

When Dean snuck back into Beks' home, he found out that she already had the tape and it wasn't very well hidden. She'd placed it on the coffee table, right where Dean could grab it and watch it for himself. The good thing about his friend being asleep was that he had the chance to rewind the tape when he came up to a section that looked strange.

Playing the tape again, Dean leaned forward on his knees to watch intently. It certainly looked like Zach, Dean wasn't going to deny that. But that wasn't Zach. Just as the man looked at the camera, there was a flash of white in his eyes. For many it would look like some sort of camera flare but for Dean it meant that this was definitely his kind of problem. Zach had not killed his girlfriend; his doppelganger had.

* * *

Piper and Phoebe shook their heads at Adam, uncertain whether this was really something they should be thinking about doing. John had only just died and Dean was out there somewhere running away from his problems. Was protecting an innocent really on their list of priorities?

Who were they kidding? Of course it was. If they'd asked Prue, Dean or even John they would have heard them tell them to get out there. With Prue and Sam on Dean duty, it was up to the three of them to search for this killer clown.

"Bobby's already done most of the research for us," Adam sighed, as they walked to Piper's car, "It was definitely a killer clown."

"Good job Sam's not coming with us, huh?" Phoebe asked, with a smirk forming on her lips.

"You know, I really don't get that fear," Piper shook her head, "I mean, how can anyone be scared of clowns?"

"You mean like you're scared of closets?" Adam asked with a chuckle, "It turns out that clowns kill people. Anyway, the daughter was left unharmed. The parents were ripped to pieces."

"So what's it to do with the carnival?"

"They'd visited the Cooper Carnivals that night," Adam explained, pulling out his notebook with all the information he'd jotted down. One problem with driving anywhere was that he wouldn't have much of an internet connection, "It's definitely not a psycho in a clown suit. The employees have alibis and the girl said she definitely saw a clown just vanish into thin air. Police think she was traumatized, but Bobby thinks it's one of our things."

Piper continued to drive, trying to process all the information as she did. It was Phoebe who had questions, as she tried to think like Dean, "Anything like this happen in the past?"

"Yeah, Bobby said in 1981 the Bunker Brothers Circus had the same M.O. Happened in three different locales," Adam nodded, "Makes him think it's not a regular spirit. I mean, they're connected to a specific town or house, usually."

"Except we've come across plenty that haven't," Piper pointed out, "Remember Bloody Mary? Maybe it's attached to something at the carnival. A cursed object or something?"

It was quickly clear that this wasn't going to be a quick and easy vanquish. There was a lot of hard work and all three witches were quickly wishing they had either John or Dean with them.

* * *

There was something eating at Dean. After watching the tape—something he hadn't told Beks about yet—he'd realized there was something off. There was never a sign of the Zach doppelganger leaving the apartment. But for Zach to be hit with the murder, it meant that the creature had to have gotten out somewhere.

That was why Dean was outside the apartment at 5:30 in the morning. It was an ungodly hour, but a necessary one to make it a little easier to do his research.

Getting out of his Impala, Dean walked over to the apartment block. A police car and coroner's van were waiting, with an Asian man being escorted off the premises.

"What happened?" Dean asked a woman, who was watching the whole scene as it unfolded.

"Guy murdered his wife. Tied her up and beat her." The woman shook her head, a sad look in her eyes. Dean frowned at the sound of the similar M.O. This was definitely not right.

Breaking away from the crowd, Dean made it into the alleyway to look through the garbage cans. He wasn't sure what he was looking for; just any sign that the creature had come this way. He was 100% positive that it wasn't the men who were really butchering their wives and girlfriends but he needed to work out what was happening to the doppelgangers.

There was really only one thing that could do something like this. A shape shifter. Every culture around the world had a lore surrounding the creatures, so it made sense. There were some that led to the likes of werewolves and skin walkers, but some led to the lore of doppelgangers.

As he picked up on a trail of blood, Dean started following it. It was clear that the shape shifter had come this way. But then the trail just stopped cold. It was as if the creature had grown wings and flew. But no lore said that shape shifters could do something like that.

Of course, if they couldn't go up, they could do down. Dean looked at his feet, realizing that he was stood on a sewer entrance. Just great—into the dark, damp sewers he was going.

* * *

That night in San Francisco, there was another attack from the clown. Evan let the clown into his house, leading him up to his parent's bedroom. That day they'd been to the carnival, where his dad had convinced him that clowns were good and were friendly. That night he realized that they were.

At least it seemed it, until he watched as the clown pulled out a knife from his large costume and killed his parents. Evan would never look at clowns the same way again.

* * *

Dean covered his nose once he reached the bottom of the ladder from the manhole. Pulling out a torch from his jacket pocket, he shone it around and looked up and down. The trail had picked back up again, leading through a maze of sewers, clearly ones that ran past the different locations that murders had taken place.

This was definitely the right place. Dean's suspicions were confirmed further when he saw a pile of blood and skin on the ground. The feeling of his stomach turning made him stop thinking about the case at hand for a few minutes. It was not something he needed to see.

Pulling out his knife, Dean picked up some of the skin and watched its slimy texture slip back onto the floor. It was only then that the thought of how the shape shifter was changing came to mind. What if it had to shed its skin like a snake to be able to change? This was the leftovers afterwards.

Putting his knife away, Dean pulled out his gun and got ready for anything that came towards him. Every now and then he'd come across more piles of shed skin and blood, making it clear that he was going in the right direction. Rounding the corner, he then came across piles of clothes, jewelry and watches. This shape shifter had been around for a while, and it wasn't planning on leaving any time soon. Who knew how many murders it had gotten away with.

Just as he stepped forward again, he came across the Asian man he'd seen get placed into the police car less than an hour earlier. Considering he was being charged with murder, there was no way he would be in the sewer now. This had to be the shape shifter.

The creature was quicker than Dean, though. Just as the hunter was about to fire off a silver bullet, the creature grabbed him and threw him into a wall. The creature was on top of Dean within an instant and the next thing he knew it all went black.

* * *

The shape shifter had taken on Dean's form, getting back to Beks' house quite easily. It was easy to get into her house now that he had the form of the man, especially now that he had his memories too. Once he was comfortably in the living room, he could work his way to getting her nice and comfortable, too.

They were now sitting in front of her fireplace, with beers in their hands. Shifter Dean hadn't even drank his beer, yet. Placing it on the coffee table, he looked at her as she spoke, giving her his undivided attention.

"So, you're saying that there's something out there that made itself look like my brother?" she asked, narrowing her eyes, "What did you call it?"

"A shape shifter," he decided to play on the monster card with her to see what she thought. As she rolled her eyes, the shifter laughed, "Yeah, it sounds crazy. But think about it. You said that Zack was in two places at once. Now tell me how that can happen."

"Okay," Rebecca nodded, clearly not really buying into this, "So, this thing can make itself look like anybody?"

"That's right."

She chuckled again, not really helping herself when she called it a freak. It really did seem like one, but maybe that was evolution. It was all about mutation. The shifter continued his own theory, "Maybe this thing was born human but different. Hideous and hated until he learned to become someone else."

Beks looked at the fireplace, shuddering at the thought of it, missing the glint of Shifter Dean's eyes glowing white temporarily. There was a silence between the two of them, and it was Dean who decided to continue, "It's funny. I kinda understand him. All alone, close to no one."

"But you have your brothers, your cousins." Beks shook her head, "And what about your dad?"

"My dad's dead, Beks," Shifter Dean shrugged with a scoff, "And my brothers and cousins? They don't really understand what my life has been like over the years. All this guy wants is someone to love him. It's all I've been after for years."

Shifter Dean moved closed to Beks and tucked a strand of hair behind her ears. The two of them locked eyes, as Beks bit her bottom lip. Dean glanced down at it, licking his own lips, "You know, I've always loved it when you do that."

Dean was just about to lean in for a kiss when Beks stopped him. Placing a hand on his chest, she looked into his green eyes, "You should go."

Shifter Dean smirked and then leaned in to whisper all the dirty, dangerous things he wanted to do to her. Shocked and horrified, she stood up, backing away from the man she once thought of as a friends, "You're disgusting. Get the hell outta here!"

"Beks, calm down."

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you?" Dean asked, as Rebecca rushed to the phone to call the police. The shifter rushed after her and threw the phone on the floor. Rebecca screamed, trying to run away. Before she could get anywhere, Dean grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him. His 210lb frame was too much for her 140lb one. Knocking the back of her knees, the creature got onto the floor and started wrapping the cord to the phone around her wrists. All she could do was scream for help.

It didn't take long to drag her to the bedroom and tie her to a chair. With just a few hits and slices with his knife, she was bloody and bruised all over.

"You're a nice girl, Beks. I mean, I liked you. Believe me, this makes this harder," holding up the knife, he crouched down to look into her eyes, "But I gotta do what I gotta do."

That was how Dean had ended up at the house with the SWAT team surrounded him. It had actually been Beks' who had been tied up. The shape shifter had decided to go after her for his next victim, trying to cover up his tracks that he'd left with the use of Zach's face to do some of his dirty work.

Shape Shifter Dean had gotten to the second bedroom by the time the SWAT team had reached him. He smirked, pretending to drop the knife, as the officer was telling him. Just at the last minute, he threw the knife at one of the police officers, giving them a reason to start firing at him. If only they knew that real bullets wouldn't do anything to him.

Shifter Dean got onto the balcony and then jumped to the ground below. Commando rolling, the shape shifter got back to his feet and then ran away across the backyard. It wouldn't be long before he got back to the sewers, where he found the need to change again. The bullets may not kill him, but they hurt.

* * *

Adam stood with his hands in his pockets at the carnival, looking around at the scene. He'd already spotted what looked like FBI talking to some of the carnival workers over in the distance, so decided to try to blend in by looking like one of the patrons. It was easier said than done, though, considering how out of place he felt.

When a three-foot-tall woman with dark haired walked past him, Adam found himself unable to stare at her. It wasn't that he was disgusted, but it made him feel more out of place and uncomfortable. Maybe it was the idea of a killer clown that really unsettled him.

"You get her number?" Phoebe laughed as she and Piper walked over to him. Adam rolled his eyes at his cousin, motioning over to the police.

"More murders, you think?" Adam asked, and sighed disappointingly when he saw Piper nod her head. It turned out another clown was involved. It was a good job they hadn't got Sam to come along. He would be far too freaked out to even think about working the case. Out of everything, Sam had always had a fear of clowns.

"If it's going to be a cursed object, it's going to be like looking for a needle in a stack of needles," Phoebe sighed, "I mean, it could be anything, right? And we really have nothing that we can go off."

"Well, what about EMF?" Adam asked, looking between his cousins.

"And what can we use for that?" Piper asked, "Dean's the one with..."

Adam grinned and pulled out his own EMF meter that he'd built out of spare computer parts. It wasn't going to be as easy to blend it in as Dean's was, but it would at least do the job. Piper and Phoebe looked at him with raised eyebrows, "I had some spare time and figured it would be about time we had an extra one in case we have multiple gigs."

"That's going to be inconspicuous." Piper now pointed out the flaw in the proposed, unspoken plan.

Phoebe walked over to a "Help Wanted" sign and smirked back at her sister and cousin. Why couldn't they just work a little harder at blending in? Now it was a case of finding the owner, Mr. Cooper. That couldn't be that hard, could it?

The three of them walked into one of the tents, seeing a many throwing knives at a target. Each one hit extremely close to the bulls-eye, impressing the three witches.

"Excuse me, we're looking for Mr. Cooper," Phoebe interrupted the man just before he threw his last knife, "Have you seen him around?"

"What is that, some kind of a joke?" The man asked, turning to face the three witches. Removing his dark sunglasses, he showed his white eyes. The man would never be able to see a thing. Adam started chuckling to himself as Phoebe opened and closed her mouth like a goldfish. She couldn't believe the foot she had just put in her mouth, and quickly started apologizing for her mistake. Piper placed her hand over her mouth to stifle the laugh, looking over at her uncomfortable sister.

"You think I wouldn't give my eyeteeth to see Mr. Cooper? Or a sunset or anything at all?"

"Wanna give me a little help here?" Phoebe looked between her sister and cousin, both who were shaking their heads with smirks on their faces. She'd landed herself in this and had the idea of getting them jobs in the carnival, so she could work her way out of the hole she had dug.

"Is there a problem?" A man asked, making the three witches jump and turn around. They had to quickly drop their eye level, as they realized it was a man about three foot in height. It wasn't the height that made Adam frown with confusion and shock; it was the red cape the small many was swearing.

"Yeah, this girl hates blind people." The blind man said to his colleague, pointing in the general direction of the three witches.

"No I don't!" Phoebe protested, but it wasn't getting her anywhere.

"Hey sweet cheeks, what's your problem?"

"It's nothing," Phoebe shook her head, not really getting that she should just shut her mouth at this point, "It was just a little misunderstanding."

"Little?" the man exclaimed at her poor choice of words, "You bi..."

"No, no, no! I'm just...could somebody tell me where Mr. Cooper is?" Phoebe threw her hands up in the air, "Please?"

Piper and Adam couldn't help but finally let their laughter out at the whole situation. Just seeing the flustered look on Phoebe's face was enough to give them giggles for the rest of the day.

* * *

"Okay, so the last purchase Dean made was on the 70 just outside of Kansas City." Ash told the two witches, as he placed his laptop on the bar. His expression was blank, as he refused to make a judgment about the purchase.

While he didn't, Sam and Prue did. There was something poignant about Kansas City. It wasn't that far away from Lawrence. Had Dean returned home for something? Something that hadn't gone amiss was that John's dog tags were gone. Was it possible that Dean had gone to the cemetery in Lawrence to leave John's dog tags with Mary?

That thought was clearly going through everyone's head. Ellen looked over at Prue and was about to say something as Jo jumped up from where she sat with her own laptop over in one of the booths.

"Oh my God, you guys need to look at this!"

Everyone was instantly crowding around the small screen on her computer, as she played a video from one of the national news channels.

"An anonymous tip led police to a home in Central West End of St. Louis, where a SWAT team discovered a local woman bound and gagged. Her attacker, a white male, approximately 24-30 years of age, was discovered hiding in her home."

The report went on to explain how it was just another case in a string of murders, where the women were beaten by their boyfriends or husbands before being brutally killed. Police suspected that the woman's boyfriend was involved in this, except that the woman had said she didn't have a boyfriend or a husband. It didn't quite work out.

It wouldn't have meant anything if it wasn't for the picture that they were showing with the report. Sam and Prue instantly recognized it as Dean. That was what had made Jo get up.

"Dean did that?" Prue asked, pointing at the screen, "I can't believe that."

"No, but maybe he's been framed for it," Sam sighed, "You know, wrong place, wrong time. You need to call Andy. It won't be long until they get his finger prints and link him to something. As much as Brent said he wiped Dean's slate clean, I wouldn't put it past..."

"And we have breaking news," the reporter went on, making Sam stop talking so they could all watch the streaming that Jo had up, "The man has been identified as Dean Winchester. Many in San Francisco will recognize the name. His father John Winchester recently turned himself in for the murder of an Internal Affairs investigator. He died in custody the night he turned himself in of a heart attack."

"He's really not going to have any public sympathy with that," Jo sighed, "What's the betting they'll go with the apple doesn't fall far from the tree metaphor."

"Okay, now I really need to call Andy, and we need to get to St. Louis." Prue sighed, running a hand through her dark locks.

"It's going to take us a couple of days to get to St. Louis, Prue." Sam sighed, making everyone else laugh. Who said they needed to drive there? That was Dean's thing. Nobody there was scared of flying.

* * *

Dean opened his eyes and looked around but there was nothing to see. It was dark—and he could tell that he had something covering his head. It was close too, enough to make him feel claustrophobic. Shaking his head, he managed to get whatever it was to start sliding down. It really didn't help that his hands were bound to something.

With a tug forward, the cover finally fell to his waist and he could finally look around at his surroundings. It wasn't as dark as he thought it would be, but it did smell. The sewage smell was everywhere, and he wondered whether the musty, damp smell of the cover was better.

Looking around again, he now realized that he was alone. There were small lights dotted around the place, but no movement within them. Staying stationary for a moment, he listened out for movement. There was nothing, and it was clear to him that he was alone. That was partially a good thing. It meant he could work on getting out of these binds. The downside was that nobody knew where he was.

* * *

Phoebe, Piper and Adam walked into the office, following Mr. Cooper. After the initial trouble in the blind man's tent, they finally got pointed in the right direction of the owner's tent to sign up for jobs.

"You three picked a hell of a time to join up," the man said, before pointing over at some chairs, "Take a seat."

The three witches looked over to see that there were two normal chairs and one that was pink, glittery and had a giant clown face on it. Piper cringed and sat in one of the normal chairs. Phoebe and Adam looked at each other, racing to get to the other normal chair. Phoebe beat her cousin to it, making him look at the pink chair gingerly before sitting down. It wasn't that he was afraid of clowns, but this whole place made him feel uncomfortable. He had to keep reminding himself of the innocents that he could save by going through with this.

"We've got all kinds of local trouble." The owner continued his explanation of the fact that it was a 'hell of a time to join up,' while it picked out some forms; presumably application forms.

"What do you mean?" Piper asked, pretending not to know anything about the recent string of deaths.

"Oh, a couple of folks got themselves murdered," the man said, as if it was the parents' faults that the disappearing clown had gotten into their homes, "Cops always seem to start here first. So, you three ever worked the circuit before?"

"Yes sir," Adam nodded, his already crafted lie falling from his lips quite easily. Dean had rubbed off on him, "Last year through Texas and Arkansas."

"Doing what?" Mr. Cooper asked with a small frown, "Ride jockies? Butcher?"

"Phoebe here's a psychic," Adam grinned, indicating to his cousin, "And Piper and I do a bit of everything, really."

Mr. Cooper wasn't buying it, though. Maybe it was the fake smiles that Phoebe and Piper were throwing him, or the fact that Adam had struggled over the part of what they'd been doing. Maybe the man didn't even believe in psychics, even though that part wasn't the lie.

While they tried to get their way around the lie, Mr. Cooper went on to explain what the carnival meant to him; what it meant to the people who worked there. It was a safe haven for those who didn't quite fit in, which wasn't the case for the three sat in front of him.

"Who says we're normal?" Piper asked, a hint of annoyance in her voice. She was annoyed—but not at Mr. Cooper. The fact that she wasn't normal and was finding it harder and harder to have a normal life was getting on her nerves.

"Look, we don't want to go to school," Phoebe shook her head, "We don't want regular lives with the 2.5 kids. We want this."

* * *

Prue had gone to see Andy and Darryl, while Sam and Jo flew out to St. Louis to help Dean. They had to believe that it wasn't really Dean doing the murdering. Either he was being framed, he'd been in the wrong place at the wrong time, or he was possessed. They didn't know which one it was, but they had to believe it was one of them.

That was how the two now found themselves at St. Louis International Airport, trying to decide where to go from there. While Jo understood the theory behind hunting, she didn't have any experience and right now was relying on Sam. The problem was that Sam's experience came from being with Dean, and Dean wasn't always upfront and open about the tricks of the trade. Jo wondered whether it would have been a better idea for Ellen to come with her.

"Do we even have any idea what Dean was hunting out here?" Sam asked as the two of them got into a taxi. They tried to keep their voices down, but Sam was more interested in finding his brother.

"I wish," Jo sighed, "Ash is looking into it, but hasn't text or emailed with anything yet." She checked her phone for the 100th time since getting out of the airport, still seeing that there was nothing from the genius that pretty much lived on her mother's pool table.

"Could he turn Dean's GPS on?" Sam now asked, suggesting an option for finding his lost brother, "Wouldn't that give us a location?"

Jo shrugged her shoulders, just as Sam felt the beginnings of a small headache forming. He knew what this headache was all about, and while he didn't get headaches that often anymore, he got them now and again. He was going to get a premonition-and an intense one at that-around someone who had no idea that he had powers. At least, he didn't think she knew, and he wasn't going to break the news to her right now. That was something Dean needed to do.

While Jo made a call, Sam turned his head away from her to try and mask the premonition. There were flashes of a street name, a house and then a blonde-haired woman attacking Dean from behind while he drank a beer on her couch. Dean was about to get himself killed, and Sam needed to stop it now.

"Sorry, man," Sam leaned forward to talk to the cab driver, "Can you take us to 269 South Compton Avenue instead?"

"Sure thing." The cab driver nodded, without even questioning it. Sitting back, Sam didn't miss the look of confusion and shock on Jo's face. He was going to have to explain something about the change of address.

"There's...erm, there's someone that Dean knows here." He shrugged his shoulders, hoping that she couldn't tell he was lying.

"Dean knows..." Jo started, looking suspicious, but then she raised her eyebrows and put her hands up, "Okay, yeah, I don't wanna know that."

* * *

Meanwhile, Prue was sitting on a bench with Andy next to her. The stress he wore on his face told her that he knew all about Dean's escapades in St. Louis. It was all over the national news and station reports.

"There's not much I can do, Prue," Andy sighed, "It's out of my jurisdiction and the victim clearly identified him."

"There has to be something, Andy," Prue pleaded with her boyfriend, "This is Dean. Sure, he has a temper on him and when it comes to monsters and demons he can be ruthless. But not innocent people. He saves them, Andy."

"I know that, but they don't," Andy sighed, trying to make it clear that he wasn't the bad guy in all this. His hands were tied where it came to Dean. If he turned up in San Francisco, Andy would have no choice but to bring him in for questioning right now. It made it clear that there wasn't an option for Dean right now, "I'll do everything I can, Prue, but I can't promise anything, okay?"

Prue nodded her head. It was the best she was going to get right now.

* * *

Dean had finally managed to shake himself out of the binds that tied him down. While the creature had taken most of the items that made him look like him, he'd not taken his ring or the watch around his wrist. The watch was the most important as it had a very small knife on the inside just in case he ran into situations like this.

Now that he was out of the binds, he could look around at the various items stashed in this sewer home. There were books scattered all over the place, along with a few phones and items of jewelry. The shape shifter picked up belongings from the victims it would shift into and maybe victims it later killed.

As he passed into a chamber, he noticed all the candles and chains. It was clearly another part of the lair. Of course, the piles of skin and blood all over the floor didn't help. Grimacing, Dean continued walking through the place to see if there was anything that would help him locate the shape shifter. He'd have to hope that the small knife from his watch would be enough. At least it was silver, so it would sting if not kill.

A shuffling noise made him frown. Getting the knife into a position in his fingers ready to attack, Dean moved through the lair slowly and cautiously. The shuffling noise got louder until Dean saw a large figured covered with a green, waterproof sheet. Knife ready, Dean tugged at the sheet and gasped at the sight.

A blonde-haired woman looked up at him; one that Dean would recognize anywhere. Her eyes locked with his green ones, and he just looked at her in pity, "Beks!"

* * *

Later that day, Phoebe, Piper and Adam had secured their jobs in the carnival. While Piper and Phoebe picked up trash outside, Adam walked around the fun house with the EMF meter in his hand. Keeping an eye out for people coming his way, he scanned the EMF meter everywhere he could. There was no sign of anything cursed in the area.

Suddenly, a skeleton fell from the ceiling, making Adam jump backwards. Laughing at himself, he then frowned suspiciously and swung the EMF meter over the skeleton. Again, there was nothing. There was definitely nothing in the fun house.

Piper's phone started ringing, while she picked up trash. Phoebe, close by, walked over to her so they could both be involved in the conversation.

"Hey, Piper." Adam chimed nervously through the phone, making Piper chuckle.

"What's up? You sound like you saw a clown." It would have been funnier if it was Sam.

"No, skeleton, actually." Adam replied, making Piper quickly question whether it was a real human skeleton. There wasn't much time to joke around, though. While in the fun house, Adam had had a thought after seeing it. Was it possible that the spirit was connected to its own remains, somewhere in the carnival?

"Did the skeleton give off EMF?" Piper asked, looking over at Phoebe who was waiting as patiently as possible for her sister to tell him what they were talking about.

"No, but...it might be worth checking out. Come meet me at the fun house."

"We'll be right there, Adam." Piper said, hanging up. Phoebe was just about to follow her sister, when someone grabbed her arm. Just about to shriek, she quickly found herself pulled into a premonition.

 _The clown was being led through a dark house by a small, African American girl. She couldn't have been more than six, taking him to show him to her parents._

 _As soon as the clown got into the bedroom, he pulled out a large butcher's knife, while the girl woke her parents up._

Phoebe gasped, pulled out of the premonition. She came face to face with the blind man from the carnival. He may not have realized that Phoebe had a paled expression, but Piper didn't miss it.

"What are you kids doing here?" The blind man asked.

"We were just sweeping." Piper said, trying to pull her sister away. She really needed to know what Phoebe had just seen. The blind man wasn't having any of it. His hearing was exceptionally good, and he had made out everything about skeletons and EMFs.

Opening and closing her mouth, Phoebe tried to get over the premonition. It was short and it didn't play out all the way to the end, but she knew that someone else was in trouble. Right now she needed to find who that was.

"We're working on a book in our spare time," Phoebe told the man, grabbing his hand to get it off her, "I'm sorry, we've gotta get back to work."

"What the hell was that?" Piper asked, pulling Phoebe along towards the fun house so they could meet up with Adam.

"Premonition," Phoebe frowned, "It had nothing to do with the old man though. That's the first time anything like that's happened. Do you think my powers are growing further?"

"Your powers are growing?" Adam asked, as his two cousins finally reached his destination.

"Mommy, look at the clown!" A little girl caught all their attentions. Phoebe's eyes widened as she realized that the girl was the one from her premonition. To make matter worse, the girl was pointing at nothing at all. This was definitely their innocent.

* * *

Dean quickly untied the ropes that bound Rebecca to the chair, constantly checking for any sign that the creature was coming back.

"What happened?"

Once Rebecca was unbound, she backed away from Dean and shook her head, holding her hands up in defense, "Stay away from me. Please, Dean. I don't know...I don't know what I did, but please..."

"What?" Dean asked, "I haven't done anything."

"You...just...you attacked me..." Rebecca told him, making Dean's eyes widened. Shaking his head, he knelt in front of her, so he could look into her panicked eyes.

"I didn't, Beks. I'd never hurt you," looking around, he frowned, "I've been down here for hours. A bit like you. How the hell did you get down here, anyway?"

Rebecca looked around, still cautious of the man she believed had tried to kill her, "I was walking home and everything just went white. I thought it was you—you hit me over the head. I woke up and I saw you...then you turned into...well...I don't know what. It was horrible. What are you?"

"I can tell you I'm 100% human," Dean sighed, "But that thing...I never wanted you to find out what I did for a living, but you remember I said that I was on the road a lot?" once Beks nodded, Dean was able to continue, "Well, I hunt creatures like this one. What you saw was a shape shifter and I'm hazarding a guess that it's taken your form for some reason. Maybe someone went to see you or its trying to get me in lots more trouble with the cops using your form. C'mon, can you walk?"

Beks nodded her head and then allowed Dean to pull her up to her feet. Leaning on him, she allowed him to help her out of the sewer.

* * *

Sam and Jo made it to the house as fast as they could. Sam just had to hope that his premonition was right and this was the girl's house. He was screwed if it was someone else's considering the lie he'd told Jo. It would have been so much easier if Prue had come with him instead.

Knocking on the door, Sam waiting impatiently, glancing at Jo out of the corner of his eye. He could see that she was still uncertain about this, uncertain about the lie he'd told. One thing he wasn't great at yet was his poker face, but he was getting a lot better. The last nine months had hardened him up and taught him that sometimes lying was for the best. Right now, it was to protect his brother and keep Jo in the dark about his family's secret.

The door opening pulled Sam out of his thoughts, and he faked a smile to see the young blonde-haired girl from his vision appeared, "Can I help you?"

"Maybe, we're looking for Dean Winchester."

* * *

"What I don't get is how you saw this when the man touched you," Piper said from the driver's seat of her car. Phoebe sat shotgun, eyes trained on the house that the family had pulled into. She was sure that this was the innocent from her vision, not really caring how she got it, "I mean, usually your premonitions are connected to the person or thing you touch."

"Maybe my powers are advancing again, Piper." Phoebe shrugged her shoulders, not having this argument again.

Adam sat back in the seat, checking the gun in his hands to make sure the salt rounds were there. It seemed odd being on a hunt without his big brother there, but it wasn't a very bad odd. He found it quite fun to finally be off the leash, even if there was an element of fear being without him.

"Hey, what's this that Prue told me about you moving out, anyway?" Piper now decided to change the subject, looking behind her at Adam. He looked up at her and then glanced across at Phoebe, not missing the look of hurt and disappointment in their eyes. With Dean gone, he could understand that it would feel like everyone was running away now.

"I'm only going into the dorms at college," Adam smiled at both of his cousins, "You guys moved out when you reached 18. In fact, everyone did it except me. I guess I need to feel like a normal teenager; a normal college student."

"That's cool," Phoebe smiled nodding her head, "So, you're definitely going to college now? I thought you were looking at a year off?"

"I thought about it but then got the acceptance at San Fran," Adam shrugged his shoulders, "I guess with everything that's happened over the last week, I can't put this off, huh?"

"San Fran? What about Berkeley?" There was a silence in the car when Adam refused to answer. His shrug of his shoulders told them that he didn't want to talk about this, so Phoebe turned back to her sister, "So, what are you doing about that Food Network segment? You rescheduling it?"

"Actually, no," Piper shook her head, "I'm quitting my job."

"What?" Phoebe asked with wide brown eyes. Adam couldn't help but lean forward in his seat, looking directly at Piper while she explained herself.

"I kinda owe it to Joanne. She made me realize that somehow I'd forgotten what my dreams were, still are. I always wanted to be a chef and have my own restaurant, not manage one. It's a good job and the pay's okay, but it's not my dream job. Like Adam said, after this week...I guess I need to finally follow my dream."

"I think that's great," Phoebe grinned, "I really do. Oh and if you need any help trollin' the classifieds, I'm an expert."

"Guess it's a good job that I am moving out and Dean is travelling again, huh? Two less mouths to feed." Adam joked, making the two sisters' smiles grow larger.

Suddenly, Phoebe placed her hand on Piper's arm, stilling the laughter. She was looking directly at the house, the other hand pointed towards it. They could just make out a clown, waiting at the door as the African American girl opened the door and welcomed the clown in with a big, playful grin. This was their creature.

The girl led the clown down the hallway towards the stairs. What she hadn't realized was that Phoebe had gotten her sister and cousin into the house and they were already waiting for them, Phoebe with Adam's shotgun ready since Adam had the offensive power.

"Wanna see Mommy and Daddy?" the girl asked, leading the clown through, "They're upstairs."

Piper leapt out first, grabbing the girl and causing her to scream at the top of her lungs. Phoebe shot the clown, making it fall to the floor. She just looked at it in shock; that was not supposed to happen. It was a spirit. To make matters worse, the clown sat up, looking at the three witches.

"Phoebe!" Adam yelled, waving his arm. The clown flew backwards, crashing through the window of the doorframe. While he flew through the air, the clown turned invisible; presumably taking off. It was then that the parents decided to come rushing down the stairs, the dad with a baseball bat in his hand. Piper quickly let go of the girl, flicked her wrists and froze the scene.

"Quick! Out of here!" Piper ordered, getting her sister and cousin to run the same direction the clown did.

* * *

Meanwhile in St. Louis, Sam and Jo were sitting on Beks' couch, drinking beers. Sam had to try very hard not to let Jo know that he was only Beks; that it wasn't really an innocent person that Dean knew. Although, he was starting to have his doubts. As soon as he'd mentioned Dean, the girl knew who he was talking about. Maybe the premonition wasn't a bad one after all. Maybe Dean wasn't in danger and it was really just some kinky foreplay between the two of them.

"So, where did Dean go?" Sam asked, holding the beer he'd been given. Jo had taken a few sips, but Sam hadn't bothered yet. If she asked, he'd just say it was while he was working the case. She didn't have to know the full truth.

"He...you know, I'm not too sure," the girl shrugged her shoulders, "He left last night."

"Why was he here?" Jo now asked, narrowing her eyes, "How did you meet him?"

"Dean? We...I used to work in a bar while I was getting through college. We met there and one thing led to another, ya know?" the girl laughed, tucking a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear, "I didn't even know he was back this way. Never called, just showed up on my doorstep. How do you two know him?"

"He's my brother," Sam answered, his voice monotone, making it very clear that to her that he was onto her—if she was human, he would just seem bored and agitated. Jo looked at Sam with raised eyebrows, laughing while she took a sip of the beer, "He took off after our dad died. We're looking for him. Tracked him here 'cuz of the news."

"Oh yeah," Beks nodded her head, watching as Jo took another sip of the beer. Beks stood up, walking to stand behind the two of them, "I saw that. I didn't realize Dean was like that. Shocked me, really. I was just with him hours before he attacked that poor girl. It's crazy."

Jo suddenly grabbed Sam's arm, trying to keep her eyes steady on the coffee table. He frowned, looking at her with concern in his hazel eyes, "Jo, you okay?"

"I don't feel right." Jo shook her head, just as her eyes fluttered closed. Sam didn't have time to reach before he felt a dull pain hit the back of his head and then all the lights went out.

* * *

Sam came to seeing his brother kneeling down in front of him. His hands were bound in front of him, and it looked like Dean was working on untying his legs.

"Thank God, Dean. Where's Jo? What about the thing?" Sam asked, hissing when he felt something grip his ankles tightly. Looking down, he just about made out that Dean wasn't untying his legs but tying them up, "Dean? What's going on?"

"Dean, please stop." Jo's voice called out from somewhere behind Sam, and he could tell that she was crying and scared.

"You two shouldn't have come here," Dean told them, looking between his brother and friend, "You should have stayed in San Francisco where you belong."

"What are you doing, Dean?" Sam asked with a dark frown, "This isn't you. You have to be possessed."

"Possessed?" Dean chuckled, an evil look in his green eyes, "That's an interesting one. Yeah, you can go with that. It's not the case, though." Walking behind Sam, Dean picked up a large, sharp knife, examining it as he walked over to Jo.

"Fight it, Dean." Jo hissed, trying to get away from the blade that he was now putting to her cheek.

"There's nothing to fight," Dean got close, as he stepped behind Jo. His lips were against the side of her head, his breath on her ear, as he spoke, "You know, the things I'd love to do to you. Since the first day I saw you, I've thought of all the ways of getting you in bed; all the different things I could do to you. I'd make you mine and you'd never want anyone else, Joanna." The way her name rolled off his tongue sent a shiver down her spine. It felt so good but so wrong all at the same time, "It's a shame it's gonna end this way, huh?"

"You don't need to do this, Dean," Sam called out, trying to look at what he was doing to Jo. He'd promised Ellen to keep her safe. While he did that, he moved his legs to get out of the poor knot his brother had tied, "Andy and Darryl are working on a way to help get you out of this mess. We'll all try. There has to be something to help."

Dean laughed, looking over at Sam, "Always the one trying to save people. There's no way your brother would get away after tonight. Murder in the first of his own brother. He'll be hunted for the rest of his life."

The way his brother spoke made Sam frown. He'd never heard his brother talk in the third person like that. It led to another theory; he was being possessed or it was some sort of doppelganger.

"What are you?" Sam now asked, hearing Dean walking back around to look at him. He looked into Dean's green eyes and saw a slight flash of white before they went back to normal. This wasn't really his brother, "You're not Dean."

"No, I'm not," Dean shook his head with a smirk, "Well, I'm not but others won't see it that way. You know, I'll be sorry to lose this skin. Your brother's got a lot of good qualities. You should appreciate him more than you do," Dean stepped towards the coffee table, and slammed the knife into it so the handle stood upwards. Sam glanced at it, before looking back at the thing impersonating his brother, "But you always thought you were more superior to him, didn't you? You were the one with the brains. You've always had a future; you and Adam. Dean...no, he didn't have much. Just his dad and now that's gone."

Dean stepped forward, close enough for Sam to lift his legs up and slam his feet into Dean's chest. His brother fell to the ground, and Sam got up to use the knife in the coffee table to get his hands untied. Just as the ropes broke and Sam grabbed the knife, Dean ran into Sam. The force pushed Sam to the ground, the knife flying across the room.

"You son of a bitch," Dean yelled, punching Sam but the younger brother fought back. He managed to roll them over so he could pin Dean down to the floor, "Not bad, little brother."

"You're not him." Sam growled, punching Dean in the face, but he just laughed. Dean kicked out, forcing Sam to stumble backwards into a bookshelf. The wood fell from the wall, books falling on top of the younger Winchester.

Dean got to his feet and stood over his little brother, "I will always be able to kick your ass. I trained you!" He flung his fist into Sam's face, but Sam managed to block it with his arm. He took his own punch, hitting Dean in the gut, before forcing him to stumble backwards. Laughing, Dean knocked the legs out from under Sam, causing him to crash into the coffee table. The older brother now straddled him, grabbing him by the neck.

Clawing at Dean's hands, Sam tried desperately to get air. This wasn't something he'd ever managed to master, and this thing knew it.

"Hey!" Dean's voice called out from somewhere in the room.

"Dean! What the..." Jo's voice now called out, but she didn't finish her sentence. Sam had managed to knock the creature's hand away from his neck, who was now looking behind him at Dean. The real Dean didn't hesitate, shooting the creature wearing his face twice in the heart. The creature looked down before falling to the floor.

"Oh my God!" A woman's voice cried, as she looked between the two strangers in her home.

"Check on Jo," Dean told the woman, before rushing over to the shape shifter. Sam stood up with a frown, looking between his brother and the thing that looked like his brother, "You okay, Sammy?"

"I'm fine," Sam nodded, not taking his eyes off the creature now, "What was that?"

"Shape shifter," Dean replied, before kneeling down next to the body. Seeing a chain around his neck, Dean grabbed it and pulled it from the body, "This belongs to me."

* * *

The next morning, Adam and Phoebe sat with the Book of Shadows in the sun room, coffee in their hands.

"Are you sure that's it?"

"It looks like it could be. Appear in human form, feed on human flesh, make themselves invisible," Adam shrugged his shoulders, "That rock salt did nothing. It hit something solid, Phoebs."

"I know. I saw," Phoebe sighed, "But why look like a clown? Isn't that a bit creepy?"

Piper walked in with Prue close behind her, "Sounds very creepy."

"Unless you're a kid," Adam shrugged his shoulders, "Gain a kid's trust. They can't enter a home without being invited in first. Hmm, I wonder if this Rakshasa is where the vampire legend came from."

"But why leave the kids?" Prue asked, sitting on one of the wicker chairs with her own coffee.

"Maybe not enough meat." Adam explained, going through everything he had learned about the creatures. They only ate every 20 years or so, so they would need enough to survive that long. It did explain the break between the killings. It had been about 20 years since the last set at the turn of the millennium.

"How do we vanquish it?" Prue now asked, not really caring about the rest of the legend.

"Brass knife." Adam pointed at the section in the Book of Shadows.

"So, now we need to work out who worked both shows..." Piper started, but Phoebe cut her off. Now it made sense why she got the premonition from the blind guy.

* * *

It didn't take the three sisters and Adam to get to the carnival. Phoebe went straight to the blind man to see if he had a brass knife as a pretence to get into his tent. She knew it could tip him off, but it would keep him contained. Her sisters and cousin were just outside, ready to attack when the time came.

What Phoebe hadn't expected was for the many to take his glasses off and make his eyes turn normal. With a grin, the not-so-blind man disappeared, his smile the last thing to go as if he was the Cheshire cat.

"Guys! Now!" Phoebe called out, just as a knife flew through the air, hitting the door frame of the man's hut. Phoebe screamed, making Adam run in faster.

"Where is he?"

"I don't know." Phoebe waved her arm around the tent, making it clear that he was in here somewhere. Prue and Piper, standing at the door, looked around just as another knife flew through the air and hit the trunk that held the man's costumes and other items he'd need for his show.

"We need to get out of here!" Prue pulled her sister out of the room. Adam grabbed Phoebe's hands and pulled her out of the hut and out into the deserted carnival.

"Something brass to kill him." Piper looked panicked, trying to come up with a plan. Adam glanced over at the fun house and grinned.

"Piper, come with me. Phoebe, Prue lead him to the fun house. Find the maze."

Adam pulled his cousin with him, rushing straight for the pipe organ. Steam spewed from the pipes, but he didn't care. It wasn't the steam he was interested in. It was then that Piper realized just what he was after. The pipes were made of brass.

Grabbing a pipe, Adam flinched away. The heat was too much. Shrugging off his jacket, he wrapped it around his hands and pulled one of the pipes. It wouldn't judge though, and Prue and Phoebe rounded the corner just at that moment.

"Hey!" Prue yelled, making Adam and Piper look over to them.

"Where is it?" Piper asked, hoping that they'd led it here. With it being invisible it wasn't easy work, but the creature soon let itself known by throwing a knife in their direction. Prue reacted this time, holding her hand out to make the knife fly back in the general direction. Another knife flew through the air, but Prue wasn't quick enough for this one. It connected with her sleeve, which then connected to the wall. Prue was pinned in place with one hand. Phoebe kicked in the general direction the knife came from, but was just hitting air.

"Where is he?" Adam asked, looking around.

"I don't know!" Phoebe shouted back, looking around for anything to help her. Spotting a lever, she grinned and pulled it. Steam poured out of the pipe organ, causing a vague shape to form within it. Prue and Phoebe pointed at it as Piper flicked her wrist. The creature stopped in its tracks, giving Adam the perfect chance to wave his arm and force one of the pipes off the organ. It flew through the air, hitting the creature in the chest.

Piper rushed to her big sister to get the knife out of her jacket sleeve, as Phoebe and Adam looked over at the still-invisible creature. All that indicated that there was something there was the blood pouring from a wound that the pipe had created.

"I hate fun houses." Piper grumbled down at the sight, earning a chuckle from everyone else.

* * *

The sound of the Impala's engine could be heard from inside of the quiet bar. Sam had text Prue and Jo had called Ellen to say that they were on their way back with Dean. It had taken just over a day, but they were definitely on their way back.

It hadn't been easy leaving, though. Dean had to explain to Beks about the truth of hunting and the creature they'd killed. St. Louis police were convinced that the murderer Dean Winchester was dead, and there was some good news out of it. Zach had been released, the police finally accepting that he'd been framed the night of his girlfriend's death. Dean was happy enough hearing that.

Now they were back, and it was up to them together to find a way for Dean to stay. Andy and Darryl were trying to work their magic, but there wasn't much that they could do right now. For all intents and purposes, Dean Winchester was dead and he couldn't do much around San Francisco. They knew it, but nobody really wanted to admit it.

"You know, it's a shame I'll miss it." Dean laughed, as he walked into the Roadhouse with Sam and Jo.

"Miss what?" Sam asked, laughing at his brother's comment.

"My funeral," he shrugged, "It's not often you get to go to your own funeral."

Andy had already arranged with St. Louis P.D. to get "Dean's" body transferred to San Francisco so the Winchesters could "bury their brother." Really, all they were going to do was burn the body to make sure nothing could possess it. It may have been a shape shifter, but that wouldn't stop demons from possessing it. The last thing anybody needed was someone else looking like Dean walking around.

"Why will you not see your own funeral?" Phoebe asked, looking towards the door between her own cousins.

Dean and Sam looked at her with open mouths. This had been something they'd talked about on the way back home, along with Jo adding her own thoughts. Seeing a sad look in his green eyes, Piper instantly understood why he wouldn't see his own funeral, "You're not gonna stay, are you?"

"I can't, Piper," Dean shook his head with a disappointed sigh. They all knew it was true. With Dean currently presumed dead, he had to start travelling again. There wasn't a realistic option that would keep him in San Francisco. It wasn't like he could work, after all. And it wasn't just that, "I need to work out what my dad did."

"I'm alive, Dean. Can we not just accept it?" Adam asked, knowing full well that that wasn't possible. It's not like he'd just accepted it.

"Do you really want to just accept it?" Dean frowned, shaking his head as he looked at his brother, "What Dad did could have put a bounty on your head. It could have done something to you. I'm sorry, Adam, but what's dead should stay dead. You're my brother and I would give my life up for you, but…I couldn't have brought you back."

Clenching his jaw, Adam just nodded his head and then looked over at Sam, "You two have already talked about this, haven't you?"

"All three of us, actually." Sam nodded, motioning over to Jo.

"Dean's not going to leave on his own," Jo explained, glancing over to her mom, "I'm gonna go, too. Someone's gotta look out for his sometimes reckless ass."

"Jo…" Ellen started but then looked over at Dean, "You better look out for my daughter. Anything happens to her…"

"You don't have to say it, Ellen." Dean shook his head with a small smile, before looking back at his cousin and brother, "This is something that needs to happen for now. Hey if Andy ever finds a way to bring me back from the dead, there'll be an option for me to come back home."

Prue nodded her head, a small smile forming on her lips, "We'll sort something out. You're coming back home, Dean."

With that, they all hugged tight. It wasn't going to be easy with Dean leaving the house, but they all knew that it really was necessary.

 **Guest Cast List:**

Samantha Ferris as Ellen Harvelle

Amy Grabow as Rebecca Warren

Alec Willows as the Blind Man

Ken Kramer as Mr. Cooper

Quinn Lord as Young Boy

* * *

 **So, thoughts? You know I love reading reviews. I thrive on them.**

 **Next Friday's episode is a mixture of The Benders and Nightmares. I really enjoyed adapting Nightmares and I found that The Benders fit quite well into the universe I've created here, so I can't wait to share the episode with you next week.**


	3. Episode 3: Evil Isn't Always a Monster

**Thank you for the feedback/follows/favorites for the last episode. I know there are a lot of questions regarding how Dean will ever get back home-and if he will-some of that will be cleared up in this episode.**

Episode 3: Monsters Aren't Necessarily Supernatural

" _Dean, I'm so sorry I can't do this in person. I just…I just wanted you to know how proud of you I am,"_ there was a pause in the speech, as Dean listened to the message in his voicemail. It was the 100th time he listened to it, hoping that there was some hint of what his dad had done, _"You know, when you were a kid, I'd come home from a hunt. You…You wouldn't have a clue what I'd been doing, but…it was…it was always like you know. After what I'd seen, I'd be, I'd be wrecked. And you, you'd come up to me and you…you'd put your hand on my shoulder and you'd look me in the eye and you'd…you'd say 'it's okay, Dad,"_ Dean smiled at the memories. He remembered doing that, and it was long before he even knew what John had ever been doing while out on the road. He just believed that John was still struggling with Mary's death, _"Dean, I'm sorry. You shouldn't have had to say that to me. I should have been saying that to you. I…as much as I respected your Grandmother and thanked her for raising you, it wasn't her responsibility. It should have been mine. I should have been there. I made you grow up too fast. You took care of your brothers, your cousins, even your Grams. You even took care of me at times. You did that and you didn't complain; not once. I'm so proud of you, son. Goodbye, Dean. Look out for your brothers."_

The voicemail message ended and Dean was tempted to listen to it again. It was only Jo walking into the motel room that stopped him. She glanced over, takeout bags in her hands, as she raised her eyebrows, "Got a hunt?"

"No, I…I was just checking my voicemails. Clearing out the inbox." Dean sighed, throwing his phone on his bed and running his hand through his hair.

"We've been on the road for two weeks now, Dean," Jo smirked, sitting at the small, dingy table so she could start eating her food. Pushing the second bag across, she motioned for Dean to join her, "Surely you've cleared that inbox out now. You were listening to that message from your dad again, weren't you?"

Dean sighed, taking a seat. There was no lying to this girl, and he didn't really want to lie to her, either. Being on the road with her 24/7 meant trust was a requirement. He trusted her to tell him the truth, so he had to give her the same respect. Nodding his head, Dean took a bite of the bacon double cheeseburger she'd picked up for him. There was one good thing about being on the road with Jo. It meant they quickly learned each other's likes and dislikes, and that was important when it came to food for Dean.

* * *

A man was driving down the street late at night. Looking over at his dashboard, he realized that it was way past midnight. He'd promised to get home well before that, but what was one more broken promise? His family was used to it, and they knew now to complain.

Pulling into his driveway, he killed the engine and allowed the garage door to close. Nothing bothered him, until the doors of his car all locked around him. The man watched each one, his dark brown eyes filled with confusion. Was there a short circuit somewhere in his electrical locking system?

Trying the door, he realized that it was definitely locked, so he pressed the button to unlock it. The plastic knob popped up and then back down again, before he had a chance to open the door. He tried to open it again, but this time nothing happened.

Fighting with the door, the man tried everything to get out. It was only when the car ignition turned on by itself that he really started panicking. Exhaust smoke was quickly filling the garage,and he knew he needed to get out of the car.

"Help!" the man called out, hoping his family would hear him, "Somebody help me!"

The thick smoke soon started to fill the garage and the car, and all the man could do was try his hardest to fight through the locked door.

* * *

Suddenly, Sam sat up in his bed, dripping with sweat. He couldn't believe what he'd just seen. At first it had all seemed like a dream, but he knew that it wasn't something he could ignore. This was a premonition.

* * *

Opening credits

* * *

Sam rushed out of the room he was now using in the Halliwell-Winchester Manor. With Dean gone for an indefinite time, Sam had moved his stuff up. Dean had already said that he'd use the basement if he ever found out it was safe to come home. With Adam moving out of the house in two months, though, it wasn't something to really worry about.

That wasn't on his mind, though at the moment. The nightmare he'd just had was. And it definitely wasn't a nightmare. That was a premonition, and the one person he thought about turning to right now was just in the room across the hall from him.

Padding across the hallway in his bare feet, Sam chapped on the door lightly, "Phoebe?"

When there was no answer, Sam pushed the door open and poked his head around the room. The moonlight shone through the window, indicating that Phoebe had forgotten to close her blind again. It led a trail of light through the room, towards her bed. Sam could clearly see her laying on her back, one arm above her head and the other across her chest. Her face was peaceful and happy, and Sam really regretted having to wake her up from that with the dream—premonition—he'd just had.

"Phoebe?" Sam called through the dark again, this time seeing her stir. With a sigh, he walked over, shaking his cousin gentle from her sleep, "Phoebs."

Phoebe suddenly sat up, looking around the room and ready to attack. One thing that Dean had taught her was to always be ready for a fight, no matter how groggy you were.

"Sam? What are you doing? It's the middle of the night."

"I had a premonition," Sam told her, "I thought it was a dream at first, but a man needs our help."

"At midnight?" Phoebe asked, glancing at the clock, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Sam nodded, apologizing as he got her to get out of bed and throw some clothes on. They needed to get there now; Sam wasn't sure if the premonition was for a few minutes time or whether it was for tomorrow.

* * *

"Are you sure it wasn't a nightmare?" Phoebe asked, as she drove Sam's car through the San Francisco streets. Sam really wished it was, but he couldn't shake that feeling that it was a premonition, "I mean, have you ever had a premonition in your sleep?"

"No, but right now I can't shake this feeling," Sam pulled out a police badge from his glove compartment, as he held the cell phone to his ear with one hand. One thing that Dean had made sure he had before he left was some fake IDs in case they needed them. They were just coming in use now, "Maybe this is how my power is advancing. I'm getting premonitions while I sleep."

Sam held up his hand, pointing to the phone to indicate that someone was now talking to him, "McReady. Detective McReady. Badge number 158. I've got a signal 480 in progress, I need the registered owner of a two door seden, California license plate Mary-Frank-six zero-three-seven. Yeah, okay, just hurry."

Phoebe raised her eyebrows at Sam, impressed at his ability to convince the person on the other end of the phone to just give out some details. She had to admit that she would have gone along with it, too. He sounded confident, like it was really him. Dean had done a great job training him up to be a hunter.

"You think the license plate will check out?" Phoebe now asked, not really taking her eyes off the road as she navigated around the streets; not really knowing where she was going.

Sam didn't say anything. He just grabbed a pen and quickly jotted down a name and street address. Thanking the person, Sam hung up the phone and looked at Phoebe, "Take a left here. We need to get to Madison Avenue."

Phoebe's face paled, although Sam wouldn't have been able to see that in the darkness of the car. It was suddenly very clear that this nightmare likely was a premonition and they needed to stop it from coming true.

* * *

Meanwhile, Jo and Dean had found a case. It was one that led them to a small town called Hibbing in Minnesota, where a man had gone missing. Usually missing person reports like this wouldn't mean much for Dean. There was no sign that it was anything unusual, except for the eye-witness. Jo had read through the statement, where the boy was sure he saw the man get dragged underneath a car and then just disappear; as if nothing had happened.

It was why the two had been in the living room, dressed as FBI agents, talking to the mom of the little boy.

" _I know you're just doing your job, but the police have been here all week already," the mother sighed, clearly trying to protect her boy, "I don't see why we have to go through this again. The more he tells the story, the more he believes it's true." Of course, it wasn't going to be something she believed. Most adults wanted to believe that there was a regular explanation for everything; that kids were making up the creatures and things they saw. Dean and Jo knew differently._

" _Mrs. McKay, we know you spoke with the local authorities." Jo smiled softly, trying to bring her feminine side through. Dean had been joking the last two weeks about whether Jo even had a feminine side. The more he got to know her, the more he realized what a tomboy she was; and he definitely wasn't complaining. It made a change to be around a girl who liked to get her hands dirty; certainly made cases a lot easier._

" _But, uh, this seems like a matter for the FBI, so…"_

" _Don't worry about how crazy it sounds, Evan," Jo smiled, looking around the mother at the little boy who stood by the doorway. She tilted her head, softening her eyes as she looked directly at him, "Just tell us what you saw."_

 _Evan looked between his mother and the two hunters before finally stepping into the room, "I was up late, watching TV, when I heard this weird noise."_

" _What did it sound like?" Jo asked, kneeling down so that she could look into the boy's eyes. Dean just kept his eyes trained on the 11-year-old._

" _I sounded like…a monster." That wasn't anything new. Dean had learned that from the reports he and Jo had found. They'd dug up some of the police reports before deciding that this could possibly be their case. What they weren't expecting was to hear that the kid had been watching Godzilla vs. Mothra just before it._

 _Dean grinned, hearing the name of the movie, "That's my favorite Godzilla movie. It's so much better than the original."_

 _The kid's eyes lit up as he quickly agreed with the FBI agent. That seemed to soften him up, so Dean went one step further, "You know, my brother likes the remake."_

" _Yuck!"_

 _Jo chuckled before moving on with the questioning, "Evan, did you see what this thing was?"_

" _No, but I saw it grab Mr. Jenkins and pull him underneath the car."_

 _After that, Evan explained how the monster just disappeared, along with the man. All that was left was a whining growling noise, making Jo and Dean look at each other with concerned frowns. That was definitely not in the police reports from earlier. Of course it wouldn't be. Something like that wouldn't be a concern for the real police; just the hunters._

Now they'd ended up in Kugel's Keg, the only bar in town. Jo looked through the research, while Dean threw darts at a nearby board. She'd quickly realized that he wasn't the research type of guy, which was clearly why he'd rang her three weeks ago when he'd been on a hunt. She didn't mind it, though. Anything to keep him busy while he couldn't fight monsters was good enough for Jo right now. He was still stressing over the idea of his brother's soul being in danger or his dad doing something reckless to save Adam.

"So, local police have now ruled out foul play," Jo sighed, rubbing her eyes as she looked at the laptop screen, "Apparently there weren't signs of a struggle."

Dean shrugged his shoulders, retrieving the three darts he'd just thrown. It may have looked like he was skiving off the research, but this was the way to keep his skills from getting rusty. It was actually how his dad had helped him hone his skills when he first started hunting.

"Maybe they're right," Dean looked at Jo, holding the darts in one hand, "It could just be a kidnapping. Maybe this isn't our kinda think after all."

"You know you don't believe that Dean," Jo shook her head, holding up his dad's journal, "Your dad marked this area. A possible hunting ground of a phantom attacker."

Dean sighed audibly, walking over to the table to look at the page in the journal about the area. Yes, John had once marked down this area and Dean assumed that he'd once been here but found nothing. It didn't make sense for John to just leave a case without solving it, although there were a lot of things that John had done that Dean couldn't quite understand over the years.

"You know this county has more missing persona per capita than anywhere else in the state?" Jo also pointed out, showing Dean the point in John's journal. The Winchester hunter sighed again, nodding his head at the fact. That definitely helped make him believe that this was a case, but there was nothing else to support it. What had his dad known?

Sitting down, Dean took a swig of his beer, "I thought phantom attackers snatched people from their beds, not a parking lot."

"There's all kinds of lore out there, Dean," Jo laughed with a small smile, "Springhill Jacks, phantom gassers. They take people anywhere, anytime. I don't know if this is our kinda gig, but do you really wanna risk anyone else going missing?"

He definitely didn't. He couldn't risk losing innocents. While the whole point of the road trip with Jo was because he couldn't actually go home, Dean also wanted to take his mind off the many problems going around it. He needed to take his mind off the issue of his baby brother coming back to life and that strange voicemail John had left; clearly knowing he was going to die.

Standing, Dean pulled his wallet out, "Okay, I saw a motel about 5 miles back. We get an early start tomorrow and ask around."

"This is my round, Dean," Jo said, "I'll meet you outside in the parking lot, okay?"

Dean wasn't going to argue. Not only did Jo want to be treated like one of the boys, she acted like one, too. He could certainly get used to her being around.

As Jo went to the bar to pay off their tab, Dean walked out to his Impala, John's journal in hand. He was about to get into it, when he heard a noise just behind him. Placing the journal on the hood of the car, Dean took a flashlight out of his leather jacket pocket and bent down to look underneath. Jumping back slightly, he laughed at himself at the cat hissing at him. Trust him to get scared by a cat. Shaking his head, Dean stood up and looked around at the bar. How long did it take for Jo to pay for the round?

Shrugging his shoulders, he pulled the keys to his car out of his pocket and was about to put them in the door. Suddenly, he felt hands grab him around the ankles and pull his legs from under him. The last thing Dean felt was a soaring pain in his head as it hit the concrete ground.

* * *

Jo walked out of the bar only five or so minutes after Dean. Expecting to see the Impala engine already on, Jo was taken aback to see the car was empty. Maybe he'd taken a leak before getting into the car.

Walking over to Dean's car, she frowned. The leather-bound journal sat on the hood, making it clear that Dean was out here somewhere.

"Dean?" looking around, Jo started to worry for her friend, "Dean, this isn't funny. C'mon out, okay?"

Stepping forward, she heard the crunch of something under her foot. It was bigger than gravel, maybe a stone? Looking down, she frown at the glimpse of metal under the street light. Jo knelt down and ran her hand over the metal, realizing that she had a set of keys in her hands. They weren't just any keys, but Dean's keys to the Impala.

Dread ran through Jo's body, as she realized that she was in trouble; Dean was in trouble. There was no way he would leave his keys to his beloved baby in the middle of the parking lot by choice.

Out of frustration, Jo did the only thing she could think of right now. She shouted at the top of her voice, "Dean!"

That caught the attention of a couple of people walking out of the bar. If it wasn't for them, she would have never noticed the traffic camera just on the highway, pointing right towards where she was standing now.

* * *

By the time Phoebe pulled up outside of the address Sam had given her, she quickly realized she was too late. The two witches looked over at the coroner's van parked outside of the house, a police car just behind it. Two men were pulling a body bag out of the house on a gurney, putting it into the van.

With a concerned frown, Sam got out of the car and made his way over to the watching crowd, "What happened?"

A woman with shock in her green eyes turned to face him, taken aback by his height. Once she'd composed herself, she told him about the suicide that had allegedly taken place in the garage that night. Phoebe walked up behind Sam, glancing at the woman next to him, "Did you know them?"

"Saw him every Sunday at St. Augustine's. He always seems…seemed so normal," the blonde-haired woman glanced over at the house, the coroner van now driving away, "I guess you never know what's going on behind closed doors."

Sam and Phoebe continued to get more answers to find out how accurate Sam's premonition was. It turned out that his dreams didn't exactly give them much warning, and Sam couldn't help but curse the Powers That Be—whoever they were—for sending him a premonition of an innocent that he couldn't help. How was he supposed to help someone if the vision happened at the same time as the incident?

Glancing back over at the house, Sam saw a short-haired woman standing on the steps of her house, crying into the shoulder of a middle-aged, balding man. Just behind them stood a man in his early 20s, a distraught but distant look on his face. Grimacing, Sam walked away from the scene and back to his BMW, "It doesn't make sense. Why would I get a premonition if I couldn't stop it?"

"I dunno, Sam," Phoebe sighed, "Maybe it was just a strange dream—one that happened to turn out real. You know, suicides happen."

"A strange dream where the suicide victim just happened to share the exact same car?" Sam asked, getting into the passenger seat of the car, "Yeah, I don't think so, Phoebs. That was a premonition and he was murdered by something; trapped in the damn garage."

"So, what we thinking?" Phoebe asked, getting into the driver's seat and starting the engine, "Poltergeist? They seem to have the ju-ju for something like that, right?"

"Maybe," Sam nodded his head, "I think we need to learn more. Maybe pick it all up tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah, Adam and I can. You have your internship that you _need_ to go to. The problem is they're not gonna wanna talk to us."

"There are people they will talk to."

* * *

There wasn't much that Jo could do that night. She went to the motel that Dean had said he spotted and checked herself into a room. It would give her the space to pull the research out and really look at it. If they weren't sure if this was one of their cases last night, they definitely knew this morning that it was. Dean Winchester didn't just vanish.

The problem was that Jo was limited on her ability to find him. She couldn't just get the local police involved. Dean was technically dead, so that wouldn't do her much good. Using a fake name wasn't really an option. But she could really do with the help of the police. Finally deciding that it was her only option, she thought through a story and jumped in the Impala, hoping they would buy it.

Kathleen looked at Jo's fake ID, happy enough that it checked out and then handed it back to her. Jo was mighty glad that Dean had decided to get a load of fake IDs made up for her now that she was coming out on the road with her.

"So, what can we do for you Officer Washington?" Kathleen asked, leaning on the desk with both her hands.

"I'm working a missing persons." Jo grinned, matching the sheriff's posture.

Kathleen looked at her taken aback by the reason and then frowned, "I didn't know the Jenkins case was being covered by the state police."

"Oh, no," Jo smiled, quickly realizing the issue, "There's someone else. Actually, it's my cousin. We were havin' a few last night at this bar down by the highway. And I haven't seen him since."

"Does your cousin have a drinking problem?"

Jo couldn't help but internally say yes. All hunters had drinking problems. It was the only way to deal with some of the crap they would see on a daily basis; deal with some of the innocents they would lose. And with the crap that life had recently thrown at Dean, Jo couldn't help but understand why he was drinking a little more each day just to be able to sleep. But she couldn't tell this cop that. It would mean Jo wouldn't be taken seriously enough, and this was a serious case.

"Sammy? Nah, two beers and he's doing karaoke," Jo replied, seeing the softness in Kathleen's brown eyes, "He wasn't drunk. He was taken."

Kathleen nodded and then motioned for Jo to come around the counter so they could check the file for anything that may have been reported. The sheriff quickly started typing into the computer, pulling up a chair for Jo to sit on.

"So, what's his name?"

"Winchester, D…" Jo stopped herself, remembering that it wasn't Dean's name she was using, "Sam Winchester." The only thing she needed was access to the traffic cam, but she knew there was loops to jump through first.

"Like the rifle?" Kathleen asked, and Jo nodded with a smile. Dean would love to hear that she'd quickly caught on the fact that his name belonged to that of a great rifle.

Kathleen quickly typed in the name, pulling up Sam and his two brothers. She couldn't help but notice the alerts on Dean's file, indicating that he'd been involved in a murder in St. Louis.

"This Dean Winchester looks like a dangerous character." Kathleen couldn't help but note.

"Black sheep of the family," Jo nodded her head with a sad smile. If only she could tell this woman the truth, "Handsome devil, though. Shame that it all went to waste."

"Oh, it looks like they cleared him."

"What?" Jo frowned, glancing at the screen. Leaning on her knees, Kathleen scrolled through the file.

"Yeah, Detective Andy Trudeau in San Francisco got him cleared of murder. Turns out it wasn't Dean after all. Fingerprints and DNA didn't match what they had on file. Also, got a full credit card trail around San Francisco for him when he should have been in St. Louis."

"Huh," Jo nodded her head with a smirk, "Guess his family's gonna be happy. His brothers were devastated." Jo made a mental note to give Prue a call when she was free to find out what had really gone down. Was it possible that shape shifters didn't have the same DNA and finger prints as the victim?

"Anyway, there's nothing showing up about Sam."

"No, but I had a lead," Jo shook herself out of her thoughts, "There was a surveillance camera by the highway. Wondered if you could get into the feed. I'm thinking it picked up whatever or whoever took him."

Kathleen didn't seem to have an issue with it, but she did want to do this through the right channels. Standing up, she grabbed some paperwork from a nearby filing cabinet and handed it to Jo, "Why don't you fill out a missing persons report and sit tight over here?"

Jo sighed, really hating the idea of waiting. She didn't know how much time she had or what state Dean was in.

"Officer, look, he's family," Jo sighed, "I need to go with you on this one," when it was clear the sheriff wasn't going to budge, Jo decided on another tactic, "Your county has its fair share of missing persons. Any of 'em ever come back? Dean…well, Dean kinda left Sammy as my responsibility. Now I know he's alive and really not the devil incarnate the news was making him out to be, I owe it to him to get Sammy back. I'm bringin' him back."

There was a moment between the two women and Jo didn't miss the sad look in Kathleen's eyes. It was like this woman had another connection to these missing persons reports, and Jo was determined to crack through the "official" bull that she was currently feeding her.

* * *

Dean opened his eyes slowly, seeing a blur of darkness around him. His head was pounding, as if he'd not drank anything for a couple of days. Placing a hand to the back of his head, he could feel something sticky matting his hair. The crash to the ground had clearly cut his head open. It was no wonder he had such a headache.

Groaning, Dean kept blinking to help his eyes adjust to the area around him. It was dark but his own night vision was starting to kick in. He could make out the bars of a cage in front of him. Crawling over to the bars, he rattled them. They were thick and sturdy. No way he was getting out of this with his bare hands.

With another groan, he started looking back around his cage. There were other cages in what now looked like a barn. The cage next to him had another figure in it. Crawling over, he could make out the figure of a man. Was this where all the missing victims ended up?

* * *

Piper shook her head as she followed her cousins and sisters through the house. When she'd gotten up that morning, she could already tell that Sam and Phoebe hadn't slept much. They were in the kitchen, high on caffeine, looking through stuff on the laptop. Within minutes, they told her all about the dream premonition that Sam had had and how it turned out to come true. Now they were working on reasons why this man would want to kill himself—or if there was a spirit of some type following him.

That wasn't the part that she thought they were crazy for. It was when she found out the way to talk to the grieving family.

Sam needed to get to work, so he'd asked his baby brother to go out and buy some costumes for them. Not just any costumes, but to make Phoebe and himself look like a nun and priest from the local Catholic church. At what point did that make sense?

Luckily, Prue had stopped Adam from leaving. It didn't make sense, but she did have an idea that would work. They already knew a priest; one that knew all about the supernatural.

"Piper, call Brendon and see if he'll help," Prue suggested, "He knows all about this and he'll want to help an innocent—or at least stop another innocent from dying."

Piper shook her head, running a hand through her brown locks. Now that she'd decided to grow her bangs out, they were getting in her eyes. She just wished they'd grow completely out already.

"Please, we need to do this before someone else gets hurt," Sam begged her with his puppy dog eyes, "My premonitions are clearly advancing but not giving me time to act. I can't let another innocent die."

* * *

That was how Phoebe had ended up standing next to Brendon at the door of the Millers. While she dressed in a suit, she felt a little more comfortable having a real priest by her side. He would also know how to comfort the family, while she worked out what could have caused the fake suicide.

Brendon rang the doorbell and it didn't take long for the door to open. Phoebe instantly recognized the balding man who was comforting the woman the night before, red-rimmed, blotchy eyes indicating that he'd been crying.

"Good afternoon, I'm Father Brendon from St. Augustine's. This is one of my parishioners, Alice Cooper, she deals with grief. May we come in?"

The man nodded, stepping aside for the two to walk into the house. Phoebe couldn't help but giggle to herself about the pseudonym, thinking how Dean would have likely done something similar.

"We're very sorry for your loss." Phoebe quickly said, realizing that the man was looking at the two of them.

"It's in difficult time like these when the Lord's guidance is most needed." Brendon started, but was soon cut off by the man, who turned out to be Jim's brother.

"Roger, please!" A woman's voice interrupted them, making the two newcomers turn to look at the woman. It was the same woman as the night before, and Phoebe couldn't help note how disheveled her hair was. She'd clearly tried her best, but was struggling with the news of the death of her husband.

The brother—Roger—walked away, while the woman apologized for him. She even went as far as offering coffee, clearly open to the company and chance to get some of the grief off her chest. Brendon clearly wanted to help this woman as well as save whoever could be next at the hands of this spirit, poltergeist or whatever they were dealing with, and gratefully accepted the coffee to have that chance.

* * *

Prue rushed into the police station and straight over to Andy's desk. Darryl sat at his own, eyebrows raising as she hit Andy on the arm, "When were you going to tell me?"

"Tell you what?" Andy asked, looking at Prue with wide eyes. Darryl couldn't help but chuckle at the interaction before getting back to his own work. Folding her arms over her chest, Prue told him all about the recent phone call she'd had with Jo. Apparently, Dean was no longer the murderer in St. Louis. The body they'd sent to San Francisco didn't have matching fingerprints or DNA.

"How did you even get his DNA in the first place?"

"I took it the last time I was at your house," Andy sighed, "Said that you'd handed it in so we could definitely verify that it was Dean Winchester's body since the family didn't ID it. I didn't realize it would go through so quickly. I've not been alerted yet that it didn't match—I wasn't even sure if it would."

"Well, you're lucky it didn't. What if it did?"

"Dean was…"

"Dean? You've been working with Dean?"

Prue looked between her boyfriend and his detective partner, who quickly raised his hands in his defense, "Nothin' to do with me, Prue."

"Yeah, I've been in touch with Dean about this," Andy sighed, explaining how he believed he owned it to the Winchester family to do this. If it wasn't for two sacrifices, Andy would either be dead or rotting in a police cell for the murder of an I.A. investigator. Adam had saved his life, and John had saved his career. The least he could do was get Dean Winchester off the murder charge and bring him back to life.

It was John's idea that shape shifters couldn't replicate the fingerprints and DNA; a theory that another hunter had after some irregularities were found. While it was a risky test, especially by saying the family refused to ID the person as Dean, it was the only one that Andy could think of to help Dean come back home.

Prue sighed, running her hand through her growing black hair. It was risky, but she couldn't help smile at the situation. Clearly Dean wanted to come back home and Andy wanted to make sure that was possible. Glancing over at Darryl, she also knew that this was another police officer on their side. They knew who the good guys really were.

* * *

While Prue got the details from Andy, Jo sat waiting for Kathleen to get the footage from the traffic cam. Playing the family card had really helped her, and Jo couldn't help but wonder whether this woman had lost someone close to her heart.

"Jen," Kathleen shouted out, getting Jo's attention. She looked up with an expected look in her eyes and then walked over to the desk, "I think we got something. These traffic cams take an image every three seconds, as part of the Amber Alert program. These images wereall taken around the same time your cousin, Sam, disappeared.

"This really isn't what I'm looking for." Jo sighed, glancing at the various images that she was showing her. The camera didn't show much, until it go to the next shot. There was a rusty truck driving past the camera. It would have meant nothing to most people, but Kathleen quickly showed that she wasn't most people. Pointing at the plates, she got Jo to check them out. The plates were clearly new, even though the truck wasn't. That rust bucket had to be stolen and the driver was involved.

Suddenly, a beat-up van drives past, the engine whining loudly. Thinking back to the kid yesterday, Jo frowned, "Hey, that engine…that's a whining growl sound, isn't it?"

"Sure." Kathleen nodded, not really getting what Jo was talking about. It didn't matter though. Jo glanced back at the pictures, shocked that this was turning out to be her type of case but not her type all at the same time.

* * *

Brendon took a mouthful of coffee, leaning forward on his knees. Mrs. Miller poured a cup for Phoebe and then one for herself, before sitting down in her own chair.

"The support of the church means so much right now."

"Of course," Brendon smiled softly, "I try to help as God would want."

"Ms. Miller," Phoebe now jumped in, needing to get to the bottom of all this, "Did your husband have a history of depression?"

"Nothing like that," she spoke, her voice cracking at the end. Brendon laid his hand on hers, helping her tell the rest of what she clearly wanted to say, "We had our ups and downs but we were happy. I just…I don't understand…how…Jim…"

The blonde-haired woman started crying, making Phoebe's heart ache. She couldn't believe what this woman was going through, but could understand it. Just weeks ago, she'd believed her cousin was dead—watched it happen. Now she was dealing with the death of her uncle, although she hadn't seen that one.

"I'm sorry you had to find him like that." Phoebe finally said, putting her hand to her own chest.

"Actually, our son, Max," the woman gestured behind her at a young boy who was sitting in a corner. Phoebe couldn't help but recognize him from the night before, "He was the one who found him."

Brendon looked at Phoebe and nodded his head. He would comfort the grieving widow while she talked to Max. Phoebe glanced at the woman, "Do you mind I maybe, I go talk to him?"

"Oh, thank you." Mrs. Miller nodded her head with a soft smile. Phoebe nodded once before getting up to see if she could help this young man and get some answers from him.

* * *

Dean was still stuck in the cage, looking for any way out. He'd taken to using the top of the cage to act as leverage so he could swing and kick at the door. Putting as much of his strength as he could into it, he tried over and over again. Eventually it woke the man next to him up, and Dean stopped to find out more about the man.

"You're alive!" Dean sighed with relief, wondering at one point whether the man had died in the cage. That had spurred him onto really finding a way out of here. Now that the man was alive, Dean could get some answers, "You okay, man?"

"Does it look like I'm doing okay?" The man growled, making Dean rolls his eyes. He didn't mean in that sense. He wanted to know if the man was hurt, bleeding, close to death—anything like that.

"You Alvin Jenkins?" Dean asked, narrowing his eyes. The man sighed with a nod, "Well, I was lookin' for ya."

"Well, no offense, but this is a piss-pour rescue."

"Not to worry, I gotta friend out there looking for us right now," Dean smiled, "I trust her…"

"She won't find us. We're in the middle of nowhere. Smells like the country," Jenkins said before nodding over to the barn door to tell Dean everything he knew, "Waiting for them to come back and do God-knows-what to us."

"You seen 'em?" Dean frowned, wondering what the hell it was they were dealing with, "What are they? What they look like?"

"You'll see," Jenkins said, rushing to the back of the cage as the barn door opened. Two men walked in, big black coats over their bodies and hats over their heads. As one man walked over to Jenkins' cage, the other walked to a panel on one of the wooden beams in the barn. The first man kicked Jenkins' cage, forcing him to back as far into a corner as possible.

Dean just watched intently as the two men went about their work, one opening the cage and the other…Dean was sure he was going into attack but then he placed a dog's bowl on the floor of the cage before leaving. The cage door shut again and the two men left.

Jenkins rushed forward and started lapping up the food from the bowl. Dean couldn't form any words at all. They were just people…who knew that monsters weren't always supernatural? That was going to make things very difficult indeed.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Dean looked over at Jenkins, "Hey, how often do they feed you?"

"Once a day," the man replied between large mouthfuls of food. The excess sprayed around the cage as he talked, "And they use that thing over there to open the cage."

"That the only time you see 'em?" Dean caught the man nodding, before he looked back over at the panel. If he could figure out how to get over there, he could get the cages open and then get out of here. Looking at the top of the panel, he saw large metal wires stretching. Following them, he noticed they were connected to the doors of the various cages around the barn and one was connected to his own.

"What do you think they want?" Jenkins asked as Dean grabbed the wire through the top of his own cage, starting to pull on it to see if he could get it loose. If it was a monster—a regular monster—he'd be able to answer that question but this wasn't. Humans…they were unpredictable. Why would humans even want to kidnap people and lock them in cages? This was more of an episode of _Criminal Minds_ than anything else. And Dean didn't even enjoy that made up cop show. That was something Adam and Phoebe enjoyed watching.

With a sigh, Dean realized that Jenkins was looking at him for an answer, "It depends on who they are, really."

"They're a bunch of psycho hillbilly rednecks if you ask me. Looking for love in all the wrong places."

Dean grimaced at the thought of it. Maybe they were, or maybe they were stuck in the world of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. He wasn't sure which one was worse, both gave him the shivers.

* * *

Piper and Adam couldn't believe what they were hearing. While making dinner, Prue had come home to tell them all about Andy and Dean working their magic between supernatural hunches and detective work. By the time Sam got home, Prue was even getting hold of Jo to tell her to bring Dean home. Dean's phone was going to voicemail.

Jo's voice sounded strained on the phone, as if she was hiding something. She said it was just the case they were working on, but Prue was almost certain there was something else. The girl wasn't the best liar in the world but was getting better the more she hunted with Dean. The last two weeks had been good for her in that aspect.

"So, Dean can definitely come home?" Sam smiled, excitement in his eyes. He wouldn't lie if anyone asked him if he missed his big brother. He really did—they all did, "There's not going to be anyone pulling him into a police station."

"It turns out there's a credit card trail through San Francisco for him," Prue nodded her head looking between her cousins and sister, "I think Ash may have been on that. He's the only person I know that could pull something like that off and make it look legit."

"So, when is he coming home?"

"Jo said as soon as they've wrapped the case," Prue told everyone, pouring herself a mug of coffee. She needed it after the long day she'd had between finding out the truth from Andy and getting through the auction, "Don't know how long that will take and they're in Minnesota."

Before any more questions could be asked, Phoebe and Brendon walked into the kitchen, sad looks on their faces. It turned out that there were no signs of spirits anywhere in the house; no electrical shortages, strange noises, nothing. It led all of them back to square one. Sam was definitely certain that his dream had been a premonition and Jim hadn't killed himself, so what was it that was doing the dirty work.

To make it worse, Phoebe had even touched the young man who had found his dad and couldn't get a premonition off him. She had hoped that it would be a vision of the past to show what had happened in the garage that night. It wasn't that she didn't believe Sam, but she did have to question the style of the vision and everything else that pointed towards a genuine suicide.

"Well, I did some digging into the house," Adam pointed over to the open laptop on the kitchen table, "And I asked Andy to do some extra digging."

"You got Andy in on this?" Prue let out an exasperated sigh. Between the two Winchester brothers, Andy's neck was going to be on the line again.

"I'm sorry, I needed to check this out and he was more than happy to help," Adam said, before continuing with his own news, "Nothing bad has happened in that house. It can't be a ghost connected to the place."

Sam started rubbing his temples, as he heard everything that his brother was saying, "Well, maybe its connected to Jim in some way."

 _Suddenly, he saw flashes of the balding man who had been with the grieving widow the night before. He was in the kitchen of his apartment, alone. The closed window suddenly opens, letting in the cool San Francisco air. The man frowns, walking over to it to shut it. It just opens again and this time sticks. The man can't get it closed, no matter how hard he tries._

 _It must be something on the outside, so the man leans through the window and looks up at the frame. There was nothing he could do. Suddenly, the window dropped, decapitating the man from the neck._

Sam looked around the room as his vision came back to him. Everyone watched him with concern in their eyes.

"Was that a vision?" Brendon asked, looking over at Piper. She nodded her head in confirmation as Phoebe rushed over to her cousin.

"What was it?"

"The man with the widow…"

"Roger?"

"Yeah, he's next."

* * *

Everything was going so smoothly for Jo. It was almost too easy, and that should have been a dead giveaway. She should have known that Kathleen wasn't going to believe everything she said. As they drove along the dark roads, looking for any sign that the truck had come through here. When they got to the last traffic camera that the truck had been spotted on, they knew that they had to have turned off somewhere and that meant a back country road.

That wasn't the problem, though. It was when Kathleen's in-car monitor dinged, altering her to a message from the offie. She frowned and then looked over at Jo.

"So, Jennifer," the sheriff glanced across, as Jo looked out for any sign of a country road, "I ran your badge number. Routine when we work cases with state police for accounting purposes, ya know."

Jo just nodded, that part didn't bother her. The badge number would come up legit with the right name. Dean had assured her of that one, and she trusted him on something like that.

"They just got back to me," Kathleen said, pulling the car over to the side of the road. Jo looked over to the sheriff, a frown on her soft features, "It says here your badge was stolen and there's a picture of you."

Kathleen turned the computer monitor to face Jo, who could see a large African American woman. Her features looked vicious, as if she was ready for anything. All Jo could do was open her mouth, looking for some sort of excuse. It didn't come, though. She didn't have the cocky attitude that Dean would have had to get out of something like this.

Taking off her seatbelt, Kathleen instructed Jo to get out of the car. The blonde hunter sighed, "Look, if you wanna arrest me, fine. I'll cooperate but please, I need to find Dean."

"Dean? I thought you said your cousin's name was Sam."

"That's what I meant. Sorry, with all the talk of Dean lately…"

That was it for Kathleen, she wasn't going to take the lies anymore. Opening her car door, she repeated the instruction for Jo to get out of the car.

"Please, he's family to me." That part wasn't a lie. Over the years of getting to know the Winchesters, she had thought of them as family. When John would come into the Roadhouse, he would treat her like his little girl, and Ellen often said that he would think of her as his daughter. He and Bill had been very good friends through the years.

Kathleen seemed to soften at the word family, and she couldn't help glance at the photo on her sun visor.

"I gotta take you in," Kathleen said, but half-heartedly. The photo stopped her and she glanced at Jo, closing her car door, "After we find your cousin—or whoever he really is."

* * *

Dean was still trying to pull on the metal wire to his cage. If he could just get it broken, maybe it would short-circuit the whole system. Of course, it could do the opposite and keep the door locked forever. Then he was really screwed, but he didn't want to think of the latter. He couldn't just sit around and do nothing for those men to come back.

"What's your name again?" Jenkins asked from where he sat with his back against one of the walls of his own cage.

"Dean." He replied, out of breath from all the tugging at the wire he'd been doing.

"Why don't you give it up, Deano. There's no way out."

"Don't…call me…Deano!" He said, finally getting the coil to tear down from the ceiling. He frowned when it did nothing, but a piece of metal fell to the floor. Groaning, Dean kneeled on the floor of his cage, trying to get his breath back, picking up the piece of metal.

"Uh," Dean muttered to himself, "It's a bracket." This whole thing had gotten him even more confused. Before he could even say anything else, the door to Jenkins' cage opened. While Jenkins laughed, Dean frowned. That was a delayed reaction for some sort of short in the system, and it wasn't like he'd ripped the cable from anywhere; just ripped a bracket off the wall.

Jenkins made his way out of the cage, looking around the barn. It was all too easy, and all Dean wanted him to do was get back in the cage. His hunter senses were telling him that he hadn't done this. Someone was playing a mind game with him.

"I'll get outta here and send help, okay?" Jenkins said to him through his cage door, "I promise."

"Jenkins, it could be a trap."

"Bye, Deano." Jenkins said, before pushing the door to the barn open and rushing outside. Dean just sat and waited, hoping that his instincts were wrong; that it wasn't a trap. Just as the man left, the cage door that he'd been in slammed shut. Dean's instincts were definitely not wrong. After a few moments, Dean heard the sound of someone screaming. Deep down, he knew that it was Jenkins. It had been a trap after all.

* * *

Brendan drove Phoebe and Sam to Roger Miller's house in the hope that the tree of them would be able to stop his death in time. Brendan wasn't originally going to come, but he felt the need to protect this innocent.

They pulled up with time to spare. It looked like Sam's visions while he was awake still gave them time to do something about it. Maybe his dream ones would grow to that point too.

Roger was just walking to the door of his apartment when Brendan pulled the car over, "Mr. Miller. Roger."

Roger turned to face the priest, rolling his eyes, "Leave me alone."

"Wait, please!" Sam called out from the back, but Roger walked into his apartment building, letting the door slam closed. There was no way others were getting in without a key fob or access by talking to one of the other residents.

Brendan hurriedly parked the car, allowing Sam and Phoebe to jump out to try and stop the vision from coming true. Phoebe started banging on the apartment door, "Please, we wanna help you!"

Sam looked around and saw there was an entrance to the back of the building. Pulling Phoebe with him, he then kicked the gate to make it open. The two witches and the priest rushed through the alleyway and up the fire escape. They had to do everything they could to stop this from coming true. Sam now wished that he had brought one of his other cousins with him to use their powers to stop his vision. It was stupid to leave them at home.

But he'd hoped that they would get there in time. That they could get Roger away from the apartment—from whatever was inside the apartment.

Suddenly, the sound of a window slamming closed and squelching froze Sam in his tracks. This was another vision that he hadn't been able to stop. Phoebe and Brendan rushed past him to see if it had really played out.

"Oh my God!" Phoebe exclaimed, covering her mouth and nose and turning away from the sight. Brendan grabbed her to help shield her from the sight, as he looked away in disgust.

It took a few moments for Sam to start thinking again. He needed to work fast on getting rid of the evidence that they were here. It was the last thing that Andy needed.

"Wait, we need to make sure there was nothing inside." Phoebe said, now getting the guts to push the window open, so she could get into the house and double check. Sam and Brendan waited uncomfortably on the fire escape for Phoebe to finished.

* * *

Somehow Jo had found herself cuffed to the car door of the police cruiser. One minute she was agreeing with Kathleen to work with her and the next she knew she was helpless. Well, not completely helpless, but Jo was pissed off right now. This woman had no idea what she was walking into.

Sure, it turned out that Kathleen had other reasons for going after these creatures. Her brother had gone missing a few years back, under very similar circumstances to Dean. Jo listened and genuinely felt for the sheriff. She'd love to find the suckers and give them what was coming to them, but Kathleen had other ideas.

Hearing a rustling in the trees, Jo glanced over the top of the cruiser. That didn't sound like Kathleen coming back. The footsteps were too heavy and too loud. In fact, there were voices talking to each other.

Putting her hand in the front pocket of her jeans, Jo grinned. There was one good thing about being a girl, it meant bobby clips were always in her pockets. She'd learnt from a young age that they were great for picking locks, so now that she hunted with Dean she made sure she had some on her.

Getting out of the cuffs wasn't that difficult, and she did it just in time. Diving silently into the woods, she watched as two men walked out and went straight to the police car.

"I've never seen Pa so angry before, Jared." One of the men said, making the other one roll his eyes.

"We've never had the police this close before, Lee." the other man said, jingling the keys to the cruiser. Kathleen had clearly been caught, but what surprised Jo more was that they were two humans in front of her. This was getting creepier by the minute.

Once the two men took off in the police car, Jo rushed in the direction that Kathleen had previously walked in. There was a clear path all the way to an old, wooden house; a house that looked like something straight out of the _Texas Chainsaw Massacre_ , and Jo couldn't help but shiver. Glancing around, she saw the police cruiser now parked in front of a large barn, and something told Jo to head for there. That had to be where Kathleen was being kept.

* * *

Sam, Phoebe and Brendan walked back into the house of the Halliwell-Winchester Manor, still taking in the events of the night. Sam was upset that he hadn't been able to stop his premonition and Brendan was upset that an innocent had died. Phoebe was still busy trying to work out what had happened.

"There were no signs of anything," Phoebe told Prue, Piper and Adam as soon as they got into the house to say what had happened, "There was nothing inside that house."

"I know what I saw in my vision, Phoebe," Sam rubbed his eyes, "I saw a vision there. Some sort of spirit."

"Well, there wasn't any EMF. I checked," Phoebe threw up her hands, "Are you sure you're not just making that up now because you wanted to save him so much?"

"Something was stalking him, Phoebe."

"Could a spirit connect itself to a family?" Piper now asked, stopping the argument before it could really explode. If Sam said he saw something, Piper was going to believe him.

"Possibly," Adam nodded, "But surely there'd be EMF. It could be a curse."

"Great, another family with a curse." Brendan chuckled, making Piper smile softly.

"Thank you for helping us with this, Brendan."

"I'm just sorry I couldn't help stop it," Brendan nodded his head, looking around at the family, "If you need me again, give me a call. I'll do what I can."

"Maybe you can help again," Prue stopped him before he left, "The family will need a priest after another loss in the family."

Piper and Phoebe frowned at Prue's comment, wondering why they were going to put themselves back into the lives of the family. But for Adam it made perfect sense. If it was a curse, they would need to find out if there would be any reason for that. The best place to start was with the family.

* * *

Dean just sat at the back of his cage, watching the new girl wake up. His jaw clenched as he realized that the humans had another victim. But at least he knew that he was going to be let out of the cage first to fight—that's what he assumed was going to happen based on the scream he'd heard from Jenkins earlier. He could at least fight off the guys better than Jenkins. His dad had taught him well; not to mention the self-defense classes he took before his 18th birthday.

Groaning in the cage pulled him back to reality again. The woman had a dirty white T-shirt and a pair of beige trousers with a stripe. After years of experience dealing with cops, he knew this was a local police officer. The poor girl was likely out looking for Jenkins and ended up pulled into a world she did know existed.

"You alright?" Dean asked her, waiting for her to survey the scene before she answered him.

"Are you Sam Winchester?"

"Sam, erm no. Dean."

"I knew she was lying." Kathleen muttered to herself, making Dean frown. Had Jo got this woman involved trying to find him? He'd love to know what she was playing at.

"Who?"

"Your cousin," the woman replied, holding her head, "That's if she's even a cousin of yours. I know her badge was fake. My guess is she just wanted those damned traffic cam shots to find you."

"Sounds like Jo," Dean chuckled, "Where is she?"

"I, erm, I cuffed her to my car."

Dean groaned, rolling his eyes. He knew now that he was going to have to wait for Jo to get dragged in. If the humans knew that a police officer was here, they'd know her car would be out there. Either Jo had managed to get herself out of those cuffs—which he wouldn't put past her—or she was going to get dragged into the barn.

The sound of the barn door opening caught their attention. Dean picked up the bracket that had fallen into his cage earlier, ready to use it if he needed to. Slow, cautious footsteps walked into the room and Dean knew that he could put the bracket down. This wasn't an enemy.

"Dean?"

"Over here." Dean called out at the familiar voice. So, Jo had managed to find a way out. Jo rushed over to the cage, placing her hand on it. Dean copied, grabbing her hand through the gaps in the metal bars.

"Are you hurt?"

"I'm okay," Dean smiled, "It's damn good to see you, Jo."

"How did you get outta the cuffs?" Kathleen asked, looking between the two of them. She hated being lied to, but she hated someone escaping custody the most. Jo just shrugged her shoulders with a wink before looking back at Dean, "I saw the things, Dean. They look like people. So, what d'ya think we're dealin' with?"

"People." Dean sighed, looking into her eyes.

"What?" Jo screwed up her face, really not expecting to hear that. The thought of shape shifters or werewolves mid-cycle came to mind, but she never expected to hear that they were just normal, creepy humans. It really was getting creepier by the second.

"Look, we need to get outta here," Dean pointed towards the barn pole, "There's some sort of automatic control right there."

Jo rushed over to the box, pulling it open to have a look. While they did that, she continued to find out more about the people. What made her even more concerned was the fact that normal humans had jumped Dean.

"So, what do they want?" Jo sighed, slamming the control closed after trying different buttons. Nothing was working to let them out. Dean wasn't so sure about the answer, only knowing that letting Jenkins go was a trap.

"There' aren't any rules or patterns," Dean sighed, "This is nothing like our usual playmates. People are just crazy. You see anything out there?"

"About a dozen junked cars hidden out back, plates from all over," Jo shrugged her shoulders, "So, they take a person and take their car, too. Guess it stops people coming lookin' for 'em."

"Did you see a black Mustang out there? About 10 years old?"

"Yeah," Jo nodded, looking over at the sheriff. She caught the sad look in Kathleen's eyes and realized what that meant, "I'm sorry. Right, I need to get you two outta here. I think this needs a key, so you got one?"

Dean glared at her, with a look that clearly told her to stop asking stupid questions. It meant that Jo needed to get into the house and find the key.

"Jo, be careful, okay? Somethin' happens to you and your mom will kill me."

"Yeah, not gonna let that happen when Andy just brought you back to life." Jo winked at him before rushing out of the barn. All Dean could do was sit back, part of him happy at that last statement but most of him scared about his hunting partner.

* * *

Jo managed to sneak into the house quite easily, using her flashlight to be able to see through the darkness. The whole house smelled damp and disgusting, and the sight of it wasn't that much better. Between the shelves of body parts in jars and bottles and containers full of unrecognizable items, Jo was more convinced than ever that she'd landed herself in the _Texas Chainsaw Massacre_.

She kept her eyes peeled for any sight of a man with a chainsaw, or a man in a wheelchair with two blown off legs and a shotgun. She wasn't putting anything past these humans.

Continuing her search around the house, she came across a wall of Polaroid photos. Not only did these people keep human body parts, but they also took photos of the dead bodies—and had themselves in those photos. One good thing was that there was plenty of evidence to make it clear that these were the bad guys the cops were looking for; now as long as they could get out and get to the police to direct them here.

"Dean's right. Demons make sense. People are crazy."

Jo quietly made her way up some stairs to see an older man in the kitchen. He was butchering something and Jo couldn't help but wonder if it was human. Dean had said that Jenkins' release was a trap, so maybe it was to kill him and eat him.

Shuddering, Jo decided to move on around the house where she almost walked into a wind chime. Stopping it from making a noise, she pulled her hands back quickly to realize that it was all made of human bones.

Finally, she spotted a bowl full of keys. They were likely the car keys of the stolen vehicles outside, but she just had to hope that there was one for the control panel in the barn. Ignoring everything else on the table, Jo did the smart thing and picked up the bowl of keys before running out of the house and back to the barn.

* * *

The young boy led Brendan and Phoebe back into their house, saying about how his mom was currently resting. It was a difficult time for the family.

"Of course," Brendan nodded, with a look of sympathy in his eyes, "Max, how are you?"

"Okay." Max shrugged his shoulders, but Phoebe didn't miss the confused and somewhat despondent look in his eyes.

"Your dad and your uncle were close?" Phoebe asked, trying to find out more about the family but in a conspicuous way. They quickly got into a story of how they had all grown up together; once neighbors for a long time. That was until Max's parents had divorced. Jim took him away and he ended up marrying his step-mom.

"Wait, so Beth isn't your mom?"

"No, step-mom." Max answered the question, "My real mom died about six months ago."

Phoebe frowned, starting to wonder whether the Winchester brothers were right on the spirit idea. Maybe the figure they'd seen was some sort of ghost or apparition. The timing seemed perfect. Phoebe pushed further for details about Max's childhood, only to be stopped with one-worded answers about them being normal and happy.

Phoebe placed her hand on Max to help offer some sort of comfort, and was suddenly pulled in a premonition.

" _I don't know what you mean by that, Max," Mrs. Miller said, while chopping up vegetables, "You know I never did anything."_

" _That's right, you didn't do anything," Max shoulder, as she placed the knife down on the chopping board. She turned to face him, seeing the anger and tears in his hazel eyes, "You didn't stop them, not once."_

 _The knife on the board suddenly started shaking, and before Mrs. Miller knew what was going on it was in the air, right in front of her face. Her eyes grew wide, as she backed away from the weapon, looking right at it._

" _How did you..."_

" _For every time you stood there and watched, pretending it wasn't happening." Max glared at the woman, tears now streaming down his face. Suddenly, the knife sliced through Mrs. Miller's right eye, connecting with the wall behind her through her head._

Phoebe gasped, looking at Max with wide, fearful eyes. He frowned at her, as she stood up and grabbed Brendan.

"You, erm, you must be tired," Phoebe said, pulling Brendan out of the house, "We'll let you get some rest."

With that, Phoebe took off, getting straight into Brendan's car. As he got in, she looked at her, ready to start the engine.

"We can't go anywhere," Phoebe shook her head, pulling her cell phone out, "We need my sisters and cousins. He's the thing that we've been after. I think he's a witch and needs our help."

* * *

Jo rushed back into the barn, the jar of keys in her hands. Quickly placing them in front of the control panel, she tried each one as quickly as possible.

"It's not there, is it?" Dean asked, seeing the frustration on her face as she got through each of the sets of keys, "Damn it."

"I didn't see anything else, Dean," Jo rushed over to him, "And there are too many in that house for me to take. You know they keep body parts, it's like the chainsaw massacre or somethin'. Creepy as hell, Dean."

The sound of talking outside caught their attention. Jo quickly grabbed up the keys and placed them in the jar, before getting into a dark corner of the room. What she hadn't realized was that she'd left a set of keys on the floor, right next to the pole with the control panel.

From her dark corner, she just watched as the two men from the car walked into the room. She could also see Dean, grab something with his hand before kneeling up ready to attack.

Lee hit the cage, but Dean didn't move. He hit the cage again, this time making Dean back away slightly. Jared opened the control panel and used a key from his pocket to turn on the system and press a button to open the cage.

Dean waited just long enough for the door to open so he could sprint forward. Before he could, though, Jared stepped on the set of keys that Jo had left behind. Frowning, he growled, "Someone else is in here. Another cop?"

"Damn it." Lee growled back, looking around the room. Jared was just about to lock up the cage again, but Dean flicked his wrists and froze the whole scene around him. The good thing was that even Kathleen and Jo would freeze, meaning Dean could get out and use some magic without being spotted.

Dean rushed over to Jared, knocking him away from the control panel. The only problem was it took him out of the freeze, but at least he had the element of surprise. Punching Jared in the face, Dean climbed on top and hit him with the hand with the metal bracket that he'd picked up. It knocked Jared out, allowing him to throw the guy into the cage.

The scene around him unfroze at that moment, and Lee looked around shocked at the turn of events.

"What the...how did you?" Lee asked, looking over at Dean in shock.

"My turn." Dean growled, punching Lee with the metal bar.

* * *

Prue turned the corner to the house, Piper, Adam and Sam in the car with her. It was a case of all hands on deck. Based on Phoebe's premonition, they had no idea what this guy was capable of it. Phoebe was sure he was a witch new to his powers, but Prue couldn't be certain. A witch didn't just start killing people.

Sam frowned, looking at his cell phone, "Hey, get this. Max's real mom was killed six months ago, the murderer hasn't been caught. Police aren't sure what happened. She was killed in her house, but there was no sign of forced entry or even any sign that anyone had been there. No fingerprints or anything were found at the scene and nothing taken."

"You don't think it was a demon, do you?" Piper asked, glancing to the back seats to look at her cousin. Sam frowned deeply; it all certainly seemed to add up.

"You think Max's powers were bound and were released after her death?" Adam asked.

"It looks possible," Sam sighed, "I was doing some more digging into Jim Miller. Max's mom called the police on him three times for domestic abuse. Each time she ended up not filing a police report. Maybe he knew she was a witch and threatened to out her and their boy?"

"And now Max is out for revenge?" Prue looked through her rear view mirror to see the concerned look in Sam's hazel eyes. She knew that look; it was one that meant step on it.

Prue pulled up behind Brendan's car, allowing her sister and cousins out right away. Phoebe rushed out of the car and towards the house, "We don't have much time. We can't let her die."

They all rushed into the house to see Phoebe's premonition playing out just as it happened. The knife was so close to Mrs. Miller's eye that it would be all that she'd be able to see right now. Tears were streaming down Max's face, as he went through with the third and final death on his list.

"What are you doing here?" Max shouted, looking directly at Phoebe.

"Sorry, but..." Piper started and quickly flicked her wrists. The knife remained in the air, with Mrs. Miller no longer moving, sobbing or anything. Max looked at the scene and then back at the five witches.

"How did you do that?"

"We're like you, Max," Sam said, stepping forward. He felt connected to this case, but maybe it was just the fact that he'd had the first two premonitions. It was because of this case that he developed a new power; well, an advancement of his current power, "We're witches, too. Your mom was a witch, wasn't she?"

"Shut up!" Max shouted, "Don't talk about my mom!"

"We know what it's like to lose our mom, Max," Phoebe spoke to him calmly, "We've all lost out moms...They were witches, too."

"You knew all about your powers then?" Max shouted, crying, "Do you have any idea what it feels like to wake up one day and suddenly be able to move things with your mind?"

Prue and Adam nodded their heads, both of them did know what it was like. Prue took the chance to take control of the situation, "We only found out about our powers last year."

Mrs. Miller suddenly unfroze, her sobbing alerting them to the change. Piper was about to flick her wrists again, but Max stopped her, "No, she has to die."

"It doesn't have to be that way, Max," Adam tried to talk the guy down, as if he was on a ledge, "Let's talk about this."

Max shook his head and then looked over at Mrs. Miller. Just as the knife was about to fly into the woman's head, Adam wave his hand and made the knife fly into his own hand, "We won't let you do this, Max."

"Max, what's going on?" Mrs. Miller asked.

"Shut up!" Max shouted, grabbing his head as the blinds around the house started opening and closing. The doors slammed shut, making the five other witches look around wearily, "Just shut up!"

"Max?"

"I said shut up!" Max glared at his stepmother, forcing her to fly into the kitchen counter, cracking her head on it. Piper rushed over to her out of instinct, not really caring what Max was capable of right now. Phoebe and Sam took steps forward.

"Please, calm down," Phoebe kept her eyes and voice soft, as she tried to diffuse the situation, "We just wanna talk."

"How did you know?" Max now asked, looking between the witches, "You know about me...about this..."

"We saw it," Sam explained, "I saw you kill your dad and uncle before it happened. And Phoebe saw you kill your step-mom. We have visions."

"And Prue and Adam can move things with their minds, like you," Phoebe motioned over to her sister and cousin before pointing at her other sister, "And Piper there can freeze things. There's another one of us, Dean, he's not here right now but he freezes things, too."

"The priest?"

"Brendan? No, he's really a priest," Sam shook his head, "He knows about all this, though. Look, we just want to help. Let us help you, Max."

"No-one can help me." Max shook his head.

"Let us try, huh?" Sam asked, "How about Phoebe and I talk to you. Let Piper get your step-mom out of here. Prue and Adam can wait outside..."

"No way!" Prue glared at her cousin, but that only made Max angry. The chandelier in the hallway started shaking, making the witches nervous.

"Nobody is leaving." Max shouted, so Phoebe nodded her head.

"Okay, how about the three of us go upstairs to talk. Or they can go upstairs. How does that sound?"

"You can't stay down here without an active power." Prue warned her sister and cousin, but realized that there wasn't a choice. Sam and Phoebe were successfully talking him down, so it was time to get through to Max. The young boy finally nodded his head, allowing Piper, Prue and Adam to take his step-mom upstairs, leaving him with the other two witches to talk.

* * *

Jo wasn't sure how it had happened. One second Dean was in the cage ready to attack, the next second Jared was in the cage and Dean was attacking Lee. It was like something had frozen time or frozen her, but allowed Dean to keep moving.

Rather than dwelling on it for now, Jo used the chance to rush out from her hiding place and open Kathleen's cage. Dean swung around and threw Lee into the cage, allowing Jo to lock the two cages up.

"Let's get outta here."

"Wait, I gotta know if my brother is still alive." Kathleen stopped them. Dean looked at her with a sad look in his eyes.

"Look, Jenkins...I heard him. He didn't make it..."

"Your brother was here two years ago, you said?" Jo now asked, "He won't still be here. I...I saw what they did to people in that house. I'm sorry."

"Jared, Lee, what the hell is taking you two so long?" A man shouted, as he walked into the barn, shotgun in his hands. As soon as he spotted the two prisoners out of their cages, he raised the shotgun and fired a shot. Dean didn't think before he raised his hand and frozen everything around him; the bullet just inches away from his chest.

"Jesus Christ!" Dean cursed, before knocking the bullet out of the air. Stepping forward, he flicked his wrists again and everything went back to as it was just moments ago. The man was shocked to see that there was no bullet making its way for Dean. In fact, Kathleen and Jo were also shocked to see that nobody had gotten hurt. Jo made a note to question Dean about that later, because Dean didn't seem to care. He just launched himself at the man.

The shotgun flew across the bar, as Dean and the old man fought. For his age, the man was strong, and almost got the better of Dean. In fact, if it wasn't for Kathleen picking up the shotgun and pushing the barrel at the man's head, the man would have possibly won, really surprising Jo.

"One move and I'll kill ya."

"I'm skin you, bitch," the man laughed, "And I'll be using this guy here as an ashtray."

"You killed my brother." Kathleen told him, not caring that Dean and Jo were watching the whole thing.

The old man laughed, moving his eyes to look at Kathleen, "This is what all this is about?"

"Just tell me why."

"For fun."

Dean and Jo didn't have the chance to react. Kathleen pulled the trigger, shooting brains everywhere; mainly all over Dean.

Wiping the blood off his face, Dean followed Jo and Kathleen out of the barn and towards the police cruiser. The sheriff was able to call for backup, and then turned her attention to the two hunters.

"I should really turn you in," Kathleen shook her head, looking at Dean, "I mean, you were wanted for murder."

"I was technically dead." Dean shrugged his shoulders.

"I thought you said that was cleared up." Jo pointed out.

Kathleen sighed, looking between them again, "I do kinda owe you both for this though. If it wasn't for you going missing, Jen...Jo wouldn't have been there to get me involved on the case. I woulda never have found out what happened to my brother."

"I'm sorry about that." Jo sighed, a sad look filling her hazel eyes.

"You know, I thought it would be easier knowing what happened to him..." Kathleen started but then trailed off. She looked over at the barn and then the woodland surrounding them. She would never really knew what happened to him—how he died or where his body was now. Part of it made it harder knowing, "Anyway, we're gonna have cops and FBI here any minute now so you two better get outta here. Start walking and if you see a squad car, drop. Your car will still be at the police station."

The two hunters chuckled before turning to walk away. They weren't going to push their luck right now. Dean thought about freezing everything to grab a set of keys and take one of the vehicles, but he had no chance if any of them were going to be able to start.

"So, wanna tell me how you escape the bullet?" Jo now asked, nudging Dean's shoulder as they walked.

"What you mean?"

"In the barn. One minute the bullet was fired, the next second it wasn't even there. You know I found it on the barn floor."

"Musta been an old one, Jo. I don't think the guy had a loaded shotgun." Dean shrugged his shoulders, but Jo could tell by the look in his green eyes that he was hiding something. It would only be time until she found out the truth.

Dean sighed, pulling her towards the dirt road to get back to the main route out, "C'mon, I guess we better get to San Francisco if I'm no longer a dead wanted man."

* * *

Sam and Phoebe covered their mouths when they saw the bruises all over Max's chest. At 20-years-old he was still getting beaten by his dad. All his step-mom did was watch.

"My mom tried to stop it, ya know," Max cried, "I remember being about six or seven. She tried to stop the beatings, but he'd turn on her, too. When she called the police, he threatened to tell them all about what she really was. I didn't know what it meant at the time. Now I do. She was just like me."

"These powers are supposed to be used for good, Max," Phoebe sighed, "We help innocents. Save them from the evil in this world."

"I am saving people from the evil in this world. My dad and uncle, they were evil." Max argued with her.

"Your step-mom wasn't part of it, though," Sam leaned forward resting his elbows on his jean-clad knees, "She didn't beat you."

"But she watched."

"She was scared, too. You gotta let her go."

Max shook his head, getting irritated and angry. There was no way they were going to get through to him. They couldn't save Mrs. Miller. Before they realized it, they were thrown into a closet, a bookshelf forced in front of the closet door. Everything went dark, as Sam and Phoebe stood looking at each other.

"Now what do we do?"

That was when Sam felt himself pulled into another premonition. He saw it all happen quickly, but clearly. To make matters worse, he felt it all. He felt the anger and pain inside of Max has he opened a drawer in the bedside table and telekinetically pulled out a gun. The gun was aimed at Mrs. Miller, while Max warned Prue and Piper to stay back. Sam didn't know where Adam was, and wasn't about to ask. He just watched the altercation take place, before Prue stepped forward and raised her hand. She was about to wave the gun away, but it fired instead.

Blood splattered all over the wall behind Prue, the bullet hole in the middle of her forehead. Her blank eyes were all that Sam could focus on as her body wavered and then crashed to the floor heavily.

"No! Prue!" Sam shouted, pushing his body weight against the door.

Adam had stepped into the bathroom to get a clean washcloth to help clean up the drying blood on Mrs. Miller's face when Max walked into the bedroom, slamming the door closed. The next thing he heard was Sam shouting out for Prue. Glancing down in the hallway, he frowned, seeing the bookcase covering a door.

With a wave of his hand, the bookcase moved back to its original place, so Sam and Phoebe could come crashing out of the closet. They looked up at him, shock evident in their eyes.

"Stop Max!" Sam ordered, "He's going to kill Prue." The two witches made their way up the stairs, but Adam was already running into the bedroom. The gun was aimed at Mrs. Miller, with Prue just about to use her powers.

"No, please don't, Max!" Adam shouted, getting his attention, "Let us help you! What you're gonna do isn't going to help you."

Shaking to the core, Max looked at Adam. Tears were streaming down his face, sweat dripping from his hair. Sam and Phoebe rounded the corner to stand behind Adam.

"Please, Max." Phoebe held up her hands, hoping that she could get through to him.

Suddenly, Max's face relaxed slightly, almost as if he'd found his way out of the nightmare. And he believed he had. There was another way; killing his stepmom wasn't going to help. Turning back to the two witches by his step-mom, he looked at the gun. Nobody could do anything, as the gun turned on Max's face and a loud bang sounded around the room. They all looked in shock, as Max's body dropped to the floor.

"No!" Sam shouted, as Piper screamed and covered her mouth in shock. Prue wrapped her arms around her sister, as Phoebe and Adam took steps back at the sight. That wasn't how any of them had pictured the day turning out.

* * *

Sam and Phoebe just watched the fire burn in front of them. Piper and Prue walked in, steaming mugs in their hands for their sister and cousin.

"I shoulda said something else to him," Sam had beaten himself up about the whole thing since they'd left the Millers. Brendan had tried to help, but right now there was no getting through to him, "I coulda helped him."

"Some people don't wanna be helped, Sam." Piper sat on the chair arm, wrapping her arm around her cousin. He broke down in tears, as he tried to control the guilt that he felt. This boy had no idea how to control his powers. The revenge he needed against his dad and uncle had turned him into this. If only his mom had taught him to use his powers to protect people rather than get revenge. If only he had someone like Dean to teach him about the monsters that were really out there. Sam could have been that person for him.

"Well, that was Andy," Adam said, walking in as he hung up the landline, "He said that Mrs. Miller says her son tried to kill her. Took the gun Jim had kept in the house for safety reasons. She was trying to get through to him when he killed himself."

"I know it was horrible how it ended, but I'm glad Andy can close one case," Phoebe sighed, looking up at Prue, "He's done a lot for us recently."

"And I get the feeling he'll keep doing things for us," Prue sighed, "Same with Darryl. They want to protect the innocents, and want us to keep doing what we do."

"How can we protect them when they don't wanna be protected?" Sam asked, looking up at his big cousin. She now sat on the other side of the chair, kissing the top of his head.

"Max was a troubled young man who got his powers at a late point in life," Prue explained, "It wasn't that he didn't want to be saved, but he didn't know if he could. He chose the way out that he thought was best. It's not always going to be that way, and you know that, Sammy."

Sure, Sam knew that but it didn't stop him from feeling guilty for not being able to save another innocent over the last few days.

 **Guest Cast List:**

Dorian Gregory as Darryl Morris

Michael Weatherly as Brendan Rowe

Brendan Fletcher as Max Miller

Beth Broderick as Alice Miller

Cameron McDonald as Jim Miller

Avery Raskin as Roger Miller

Jessica Steen as Kathleen

Johnny Cuthbert as Pa Bender

Ken Krizinger as Jared Bender

Shawn Reis as Lee Bender

Alexia Fast as Missy Bender

* * *

 **Again, thank you for the support and I really hope you enjoyed this episode. Please R &R to let me know. Next Friday's episode will be one that I absolutely love from Charmed and I know many of you have asked for it. It's the rewritten version of Mortality Bites. I can't wait to share it with you.  
**


	4. Episode 4: The Song Doesn't Have to

**The next episode is here! Yay, right? I hope so!**

 **Thank you so much for your reviews on the last chapter. I know I haven't had much time to reply to the reviews and I don't do it intentionally. I've just got a lot of work to do right now. In fact, work is so tough right now that I've not had much time to write for me. I'm trying to work on the next episode for this, but there may be a gap between episodes if I find myself catching up too quickly. I'm sorry for that in advance.**

 **Anyway, here's the chapter based on Mortality Bites. I really hope you enjoy it. This was one that I really had fun adapting with the brothers in it. I do want to remind people that burning witches at the stake wasn't something that happened in the Salem witch trials, so bringing that back as a form of execution wouldn't make sense. All will be explained in the episode.**

Episode 4: The Song Doesn't Have to Remain the Same

Dean sat at the kitchen table, looking through the newspaper. For the first time in a long time, he wasn't reading it to find a hunt. He was just simply reading it to find out what was going on in the world. Part of him wanted to read through the job ads since he wasn't sure if he was going to get his job at the garage back, but he just needed to be a normal, unemployed civilian for a day or so. Was that really too much to ask for?

"You know it's really good seeing you back home." Sam grinned, stepping into the kitchen from his basement bedroom. Dean had insisted that he take the basement now that he was back, but soon found out that it wouldn't be for long. Adam was moving out in two weeks to get to the college dorms.

As much as Dean felt uneasy not having his baby brother in the Manor with him, he was proud of him for this decision. It was a big step to move out of home. The even bigger step for him was that he and Frankie had decided to have a lot of fun this summer and were going to go to be friends once they went to college, since she was off to New York for college. His baby brother was far too mature for Dean's liking, but he was proud of him.

"Well, you'll be seeing plenty of me, Sammy," Dean smiled, "Now that I'm not dead anymore, I'm sticking around. Guess I just gotta find a job, though. With Phoebe still outta work and Piper quitting her job, we can't keep leaving it to Prue to pay our way."

"Piper shouldn't be unemployed for too long," Sam shrugged, pouring himself some coffee and sitting down next to his brother, "She's taking some temp jobs for now while she works out where she can open her own restaurant."

"Nice, looks like running into Joanne wasn't that bad after all." Dean laughed, just as a stench wafted through the room.

"I'm gonna kill him the next time I see him." Piper growled, as Adam walked into the kitchen holding the bags of groceries. Piper had one of her shoes in her hand.

"You know you're supposed to wear them on your feet?" Dean smirked at his cousin, just as Prue and Phoebe walked in through the back door.

"What did you buy?"

"Doodie!" Piper held up the shoe, before reaching for some kitchen roll to clean it up. Dean rolled his eyes, now understanding who she was going to kill. Adam placed the bags of groceries on the kitchen table, as Prue cracked a joke about not being out of it.

"I stepped in it, again," Piper sighed, "That man has turned our front walk into a puppy minefield. It's been like this for the last month."

"Has anyone tried talking to him?" Dean asked, looking between his brothers and cousins.

"We left notes," Phoebe shrugged her shoulders, "But he still lets his dog do his business right in front of our house."

"Well, how about you actually go out there and face him. Look, I'll go the next time." Dean suggested, waiting for confirmation from the others to go for it. Suddenly, a dog barked, making all the witches look at each other.

"That couldn't be!" Adam exclaimed, before all of them rushed out of the kitchen and into the living room. Adam and Dean were the first ones there, watching as the man started letting the dog poop at the end of the driveway, right next to the Impala.

"Oh hell no!" Dean growled, "Do not tell me he's gonna walk away."

"He will," Phoebe nodded, "Don't you think it's time we taught him a lesson?"

"You can't teach an old dog new tricks." Prue pointed out, making her little sister roll her eyes.

"How about the owner. Isn't it about time we saved money on carpet cleaning? Use your magic on him."

"We can't do that, Phoebe." Dean shook his head with a frown, but Phoebe brought up a decent point about helping the rest of the block by teaching this guy a lesson. Phoebe walked over, ignoring the protesting from Sam and Piper as she opened the window.

With a sigh, Dean looked over at his little brother and saw a mischievous glint in his hazel eyes. Reluctantly, he flicked his wrists, forcing the man and his dog to freeze on the spot. Adam waved his finger and the small amount of poop flicked onto the bottom of the man's shoes. Dean waved his hand again, unfreezing the whole scene.

"An eye for an eye, a shoe for a shoe." Phoebe smirked at Piper, just as Dean chuckled at the man wiping the poop from his shoe. As the man looked around, Dean pulled Phoebe down, making them duck out of the way. Adam quickly followed suit, making Sam laughed from the doorway.

"Did he see you?" Sam asked, folding his arms across his chest.

"So what if he did?" Phoebe asked, with a shrug of her shoulders, "You think he'd cry witch? Like anyone but Andy and Darryl would believe him."

Phoebe threw herself on the couch, saying how she'd earned herself some channel surfing, while the rest walked out of the room to handle their own tasks for the day. As she flicked the TV onto a news report about baseball player Cal Greene, Phoebe felt herself get pulled into a premonition.

 _It wasn't much, but it was enough. Phoebe stood next to her youngest cousin, Adam, on a podium. Rope hung around their necks, and Phoebe could feel the thick, rough bindings. Her hands were tied behind her back, making it very clear that there was no way out of this one. A hooded man stepped behind her, tightening the noose around her neck, and all she could do was panic. The man tightened Adam's noose and then stepped back to a lever._

 _Phoebe looked out to the crowd, watching Dean, Sam, Piper and Prue all watch. They didn't do anything, just let Phoebe and Adam's bodies drop through the holes in the podium._

Screaming, Phoebe came out of the premonition. Dean was the first back in the room, panic and concern in his eyes, as Prue, Piper, Sam and Adam quickly followed.

"Phoebe, are you okay?" Dean asked, grabbing her arms, "C'mon, deep breaths. That's it. It'll be alright."

"No, it won't," Phoebe looked at him, tears now filling her eyes, "I was being hung. Adam and I were being executed."

* * *

Opening Credits

* * *

"I don't understand. Why would a report about a baseball player trigger a premonition like that?" Prue asked, sitting with Phoebe on the couch. Piper walked back in with a glass of water, handing it to her baby sister. Dean had remained by her side, hugging her as she shook in shock from the premonition. She hasn't just seen it, but she'd felt it; everything.

"We wouldn't just stand there while it happened," Sam shook his head, placing his hand on Adam's shoulder, "We wouldn't let anything like that happen to either of us."

Adam's frown deepened, as he felt his brother's hand on his shoulder. Looking over at Phoebe, he didn't doubt her premonition, but something just didn't seem right, "What did we do to end up executed?"

Dean looked between his brother and cousin, before then looking at the others in the room, "Maybe this is a time for the Book of Shadows."

Everyone seemed to agree, and they headed up to the attic to find the pages turning on their own. Piper pointed at the Book as it stopped, "They're doing their flipping thing again."

The six witches crowded around the podium, Dean keeping his baby cousin close. While his brother was also part of the premonition, Phoebe was the one that needed the comfort right now. She was the one who saw and felt the events happen. A shudder when through him as he thought about what it must feel like to feel your own death happen.

"Well, it's a spell to take us to the future." Prue started, but was quickly corrected by Sam. There were two spells, so one would bring them back. The only catch was that it would only work the once. The two spells would disappear once they were used.

Three of the witches were quickly in favor of using the spells. Prue, Dean and Sam made it clear it wasn't up for discussion. However, Phoebe stopped them, reminding them of their time in the past.

"We didn't have our powers in the past. What if that happens in the future?" Phoebe asked, "We have no idea what we're going into."

"This is your life, Phoebe," Prue shrugged her shoulders, "And Adam's. We're not letting you die."

"No, Phoebe's right," Adam agreed with his cousin, "We need to think this through."

"No, Phoebe got a premonition for a reason," Sam argued, "We both get premonitions for reasons, and that's not to just sit around and do nothing."

"We need to get to the future to find out why the two of you end up dangling from a noose!" Dean backed his brother up.

Piper had remained silent this whole time, but now it was time for her to speak up, "So, if we do this, we need a date to go to. Do you have one, Phoebe?"

"July 8, 2025. That's two weeks before my premonition." They all agreed that it was a good idea. Two weeks would give them plenty of time to find out what had happened and why the two youngest of their families were about to be executed.

"I wonder what we'll be like in the future," Adam frowned, looking between his brothers and cousins, "I mean, when we went back to the 90s, we saw ourselves as kids. Now we're gonna see ourselves 10 years in the future."

"Oh God! Think of how much wear and tear the demon vanquishes will do to us!" Piper moaned, earning a chuckle from the others in the room. Prue ignored her sisters pretend worries, grabbing a pen and paper to write the date on.

"So, we burn it and say the spell." Prue said, handing Dean the piece of paper. Pulling his lighter from his pocket, Dean burned the piece of paper and the six witches said the spell together.

" _Hear these words, hear the rhyme,_

 _We send to you this burning sign,_

 _Then our future selves will find,_

 _In another place and time."_

None of them saw it but white lights surrounded each and every one of them. They were transported to the future, to a time that would mean either the end of their family unit or the chance to change it for good.

* * *

Piper awoke on the couch in the Halliwell-Winchester Manor. Looking around dazed, she suddenly heard loud footsteps coming towards her.

"Mommy! Mommy!"

"Piper!"

Piper looked over to the doorway to see two little girls standing there. One had short dark brown hair, held back with a bright red headband matching the red top she had on over the top of her denim jeans. The gap in her front teeth made Piper smile softly, clearly she'd lost a tooth recently. The second little girl was dressed in white tights and a tartan skirt, a brown leather jacket over the top of a white top. Her blonde, curly hair was tied up in bunches. She was slightly older than the brunette girl, but only maybe by a year or two. Both girls couldn't have been much older than seven or eight. If Piper was in the right time, it would mean these two were going to be born within the next few years, and one of them had just called her mommy.

"I think you have the wrong house." Piper told the girls, but was quickly hugged by the brunette girl.

"Stop fooling, Mommy." The girl chuckled.

"Piper?" Dean groaned from the sun room, stumbling in as if he was still drunk from a night out. Piper was taken aback by the sight of him. His blonde hair was a little longer than it used to be, gelled to one side. The scruff on his face was now longer, as if he'd given up taming it. What made Piper giggle was the fact that it had a ginger tint despite his dark blonde locks. The rest of Dean Winchester hadn't really changed, but he did look older—the wrinkles around his eyes told them that he was tired and worn out.

"Daddy!" The blonde haired girl grinned, rushing over to Dean and hugging him tight just as a car honked outside.

"Oh, Mary, car pool!" The brunette said, before turning to Piper, "Love you, Mommy."

The two girls ran into one of the other rooms to grab their back packs. The two witches looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

"Daddy?" Dean pointed towards the door and then took a good look at Piper, "Oh, wow! You look...wow!"

Piper panicked and quickly looked at herself in the mirror. Her brown hair was perfectly curled around her face, giving her the look of a mature mom. She wore a white blouse over the top of dark trousers. But it wasn't any of that that caught her attention. It was the large, diamond wedding ring on her finger.

"Oh whoa!"

Seeing that made Dean look down at his hand. Chuckling to himself, he wasn't surprised to see that he wasn't married, despite clearly having a kid. Glancing over at the TV, he now realized that it was on and it was about Phoebe and Adam.

"Oh, Adam. Need the volume." Dean said, and was taken aback by the TV getting louder by itself. The two witches just looked at each other, silently questioning whether that was magic or just technology advancing.

"More news on the execution of Phoebe Halliwell and Adam Winchester coming up in just a moment. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming MTV's Real World 18, on the moon."

"Dad, we're gonna be late." The blonde girl, Mary, said, making Dean look over at her. Piper quickly told the TV to 'shut up or mute', making it turn down by itself. The four of them walked over to the door, where a woman stood on the other side, looking like she was about to knock. Neither Piper or Dean recognized her, but she clearly knew them.

"Morning, Piper. Hi, Dean, how are you both?"

"Okay, I guess." Piper looked at her, frowning slightly.

"Oh, I'm sure with your sister and brother...It's rough," the woman smiled sympathetically, "So, don't worry about your little ones. I'll get them to school like you asked but, uh, are you sure you want me to take them to your ex's afterwards, Piper?"

"Ex? As in husband?" Piper asked, looking at the woman and then at Dean. He shrugged his shoulders, "If that's what we asked, then yes, please."

The woman looked over at Dean, who nodded his head with a nervous smile, "I wasn't aware you two were getting along again. Although I gotta say that I'm not surprised Jo doesn't want to take Mary. She never has been mother material."

"Jo?" Dean questioned, but was quickly cut off by Piper elbowing him. This wasn't the time to start asking questions. They needed to figure out what the hell was going on right now, and why Phoebe and Adam were being executed today, by the looks of things.

"Okay, kiddos, let's hit the road."

The two girls turned to their parents, Mary getting Dean to kneel down to her level, "Don't worry, Dad. I won't use my magic ever again. And I'll keep Mel safe. Hunters won't get us." She kissed his cheek, before rushing out of the house. Dean just stared in the direction, wondering what the hell had happened in the last 10 years for him to go back to fearing hunters so much that he was asking his daughter never to use her powers again.

"Mommy, I'll never use mine either," the brunette said, "And I'll be good for Daddy. I promise."

Piper had tears in her eyes, wondering what had happened for her to end up like this. While she was happy to see that she would have a child in the future, something was giving her a bad feeling. The two parents walked out, watching as Mary and Mel got into a car with another little girl. The woman gave a small wave before pulling off from the curb.

Dean did glance over with a smile to see the Impala still in the driveway. Rushing over, he checked his pocket for the keys and smiled to see they were there too. He opened the trunk and checked underneath the false bottom, taken aback by the extra weapons and items thrown haphazardly into it.

The sound of a car pulling up pulled Dean from his thoughts. He turned and was again shocked to see a large black limo pull up. Prue stepped out, but this was clearly a very different Prue. 10 years had led to her dressing in a black leather dress and switch her black locks to long blonde ones.

"Wow!" Dean muttered to himself, as Prue was suddenly surrounded by assistants touching and fussing over her. Dean and Piper threw each other shocked, impressed looks before walking over to her.

"Stay, stay, stay!" Prue told the people around her, before finally breaking away to get to Piper and Dean.

"Prue, what's going on?"

"I don't know, but I could really get used to it," Prue smirked, looking back over at the limo, "Check me out. I don't just work at Bucklands. I own it. And three more. Paris, Tokyo and London."

"And you're blonde!" Piper exclaimed, running the long locks through her fingers.

"Wait, you already went to work?" Dean asked, trying to work out what was going on. The three witches stepped inside the Manor, as Prue explained how she'd woken up at work. Piper and Dean couldn't help but look her over, checking her fingers for any rings. There was nothing. Prue looked at what they were staring at and Prue sighed.

"Oh, I asked about Andy. He...erm...he was killed. They said something about a witch..." Piper and Dean threw each other concerned looks, as it all seemed to click in place. Could it be that witches were hunted in the future, and that was why they told their children not to use their powers?

"So, what's the future like for you two?"

"Well, considering we clearly still live here," Dean pointed at the house, "And between us we have a failed marriage and a possible girlfriend who isn't mother material..."

"Mother material?" Prue asked, glancing at Piper, "Failed marriage?"

"Dean and I have a kid each," Piper explained, "I was married to someone and Dean..."

"I'm with Jo, or was with her...I don't know," Dean shrugged, holding up his hand to prove a point that they definitely weren't married, "My daughter's called Mary and Piper's I think is Mel."

"And they have powers, Prue," Piper smiled, "But for some reason we told them not to use them. We just don't know why."

"Speaking of why...why are we in our future bodies?" Prue now asked, glancing around at some of the photos in the Manor. Some of them hadn't changed, but there were a few of Piper, Dean and their little ones together. They'd all clearly made a home in here for the four of them, "I thought we were supposed to come here and see them?"

"I guess going to the past isn't the same as going to the future," Piper sighed, "I just wish we had some memories of our future selves. Knowing what happened in the last ten years, like how I got a daughter, would be really useful."

"Wait, a second," Dean shook his head, "If we're in our future bodies..." Dean turned his attention to the TV screen, instructing it to turn up. A reporter talked about the executions of Phoebe Halliwell and Adam Winchester being just eight hours away.

"The witches were accused of murdering Cal Greene six months ago," the reporter said, "We're going live with Sierra Stone, now."

"Eight hours?" Piper freaked, realizing that they were very close to the deadline. The spell hadn't worked properly.

The pretty brunette woman came onto the screen, holding a microphone. She was standing just in front of a podium in front of some secure facility, presumably where Phoebe and Adam were held, "San Francisco district attorney, Nathaniel Pratt, whose discovery of the witches last August, has made him an early favorite for the governor's seat, just came out to make a statement. Let's listen in."

The camera zoomed in on Nathaniel Pratt, as he spoke about how people could band together against witches. It was the Salem Witch Trials all over again as the man sparked fear in everyone. But that wasn't what had caught Dean's attention. He focused on a man standing just behind Nathaniel. Despite the longer hair, Dean couldn't mistake him for anyone else. In a crisp, grey suit and smart blue tie, Sam Winchester stood behind Nathaniel, making it clear that he was on the side of the prosecution.

* * *

Prue and Piper had made the decision to get up to the attic, while Dean took in the information that his own brother had help put their other brother away; helped get him sent down for murder and end up executed for being a witch. How the hell could Sam do something like that?

"There has to be an explanation for Sam, Dean," Prue kept telling him but it wasn't sinking in, "This is Sam. He loves Adam. Like you, he'd never let anything like this happen to him."

"So, what's the plan?" Piper asked her sister, following her into the attic, "I mean, do we really do this 10 years into the future?"

"Well, apparently not." Prue sighed, looking over at the podium. All three cousins looked over at where the Book of Shadows should have been, but it wasn't there. The podium was empty, and Dean couldn't help but trace his hand over the layer of dust on the top. The Book hadn't been here for some time.

 _Can't Fight This Feeling_ suddenly started ringing, making Dean frown. He grabbed his cell phone out of his pocket and smiled at the sight of Jo's face pop up on his screen.

"Hey, Jo." Dean answered the phone, motioning to his cousins that he'd take the call outside. He didn't need Jo to hear all about a missing Book of Shadows. Dean stepped down to the middle hallway, keeping the phone close to his ear.

"Mary get to school with Norma okay?"

"Norma? Erm, yeah," Dean nodded, "Where are you? You sound distant."

"I'm driving right now," Jo replied, "I'm racing back from Michigan."

"Michigan? What were you doing there? You have a gig?"

"Gig?" Jo asked, making Dean doubt his words. They were missing far too much by not knowing what had happened in the last decade. So much had clearly changed, "Why would I...Dean, are you feeling okay? Look, I know you said you wanted to come, but we didn't know if we'd be finished with this before Adam's execution and you really needed to be there for this."

"What the hell is going on, Jo?" Dean finally groaned, fed up of waiting for her to slip up and say something to him.

"I was...Dean you know I was taking that boy to the safe house in Michigan. He's with Andy now..."

"Andy, but I thought Andy..." Dean shook his head, getting himself out of the thoughts. He wasn't going to go into it right now, "Look, just get here as soon as you can, okay, Jo? I kinda need ya here."

"I will be," Jo smiled through the phone, "I'll see you as soon as I can."

"I love you." Dean said, feeling like it was the right thing to say. Did he love Jo in this time? Did he love Jo at all?

"You what?" Jo asked, laughing, "You've never said that to me once. You been drinking, cowboy?"

"No, just a rough night," Dean laughed at himself. He should have known that he would never say something like that to her, "I'll see you later, okay?"

With that, he hung up and made his way back up the stairs to the attic. He would need to tell Prue about Andy—or would he when he had no idea about what was going on in Michigan. Getting into the attic, he realized that the sisters were arguing about the need to find the Book to find the spell. Prue waved her arm as she made a point, and suddenly everything flew to one side, causing a large explosion.

Dean and Piper looked at her, eyebrows raised and hands up in defense. Piper smirked as Prue just looked at her hand in shock, "Been working out?"

"I guess that's a little sample of what 10 years does to our powers."

"And to our attic," Dean pointed out, before looking at an overturned table. There was a key taped to the bottom of it, making him frown. Piper looked at where he was looking, and grabbed the key quickly, showing it to Prue.

"That's the key to my wall safe at Bucklands." Prue examined it closely, and soon it was all clear. The Book of Shadows wasn't missing. It had been taken out of the house to protect the family. The question is why would their future selves feel the need to take the Book out of the house.

"So, let's get to Bucklands and hope that place has some answers," Dean sighed, "Then we check on Phoebe and Adam. They'll be freaking out knowing their execution is in less than eight hours."

* * *

The problem was the two locked up witches had no idea when their executions were. They were just hoping that the spell had worked as it should. They had now found themselves locked in separate cells, no idea where they were or what they were really locked away for. Both knew from the orange jumpsuits that they wore that they were both in jail. The collars around their neck—that reminded Adam of _Battle Royale_ —were another reminder. Adam couldn't help but wonder if they were a magical form of handcuffs.

In one cell, Adam sat with his back against the wall, trying to work out a plan. He'd already gone up against every wall to see if there was a gap or anything to get him out. He'd tried calling out for people to at least find out some answers. All he'd been given in return was a growl from someone telling him to shut his mouth.

Phoebe, on the other hand, was walking around trying her damnedest to get someone to talk to. She even resorted to asking for food. It was only now that she'd realized just how hungry she was. Tucking her long—it was really long now—brown hair behind her ear, she walked over to the window. A tray of slop was pushed under a small window, and Phoebe used that chance to try and talk to someone.

"Don't I even get a phone call?" Phoebe finally called out, only for the man in another room to tell her to shut up. Nobody wanted to talk to witches.

She placed her hand on the window, about to call out for someone. However, as she placed her hand on the glass, an electric spark hit through the collar around her neck. Phoebe quickly grabbed her neck, pain and tears forming in her brown eyes. She was all alone. There was no escape.

* * *

The limo pulled up outside of Bucklands, allowing Prue, Piper and Dean to get out.

"I could get used to that." Dean joked, winking at Prue as they looked up at the building.

"I can't believe you get a limo and driver and I've still got my same old car." Piper grumbled, and Prue couldn't help but point out that at least Piper had a husband and child. Of course, that went onto the discussion over who the husband was and the fact that it was soon to be an ex-husband.

"You know, there's always the chance that you have a kid and ex out there," Dean shrugged his shoulders, "Maybe even several."

"Exes?" Prue frowned, "That sounds more like you, Dean. I'm impressed that you and Jo seem to be on good terms. Maybe a kid is what you need to settle down."

Dean rolled his eyes, mumbling something about not bringing children into his lifestyle, "And I meant kids. Several kids."

Piper sighed, as someone bumped into her. She didn't even have a chance to see who it was, as the coffee in his hands started falling into him. Out of instinct, Piper flicked her wrists and froze the man before the coffee burned him.

"Whoa!" Dean looked around, noticing that the whole street had frozen around them. The decade had done wonders to their powers. Before they could discuss anything, Leo appeared in blue and white lights, right in front of them. There was anger and annoyance in his eyes, as he looked between the three witches.

"What the hell are you three doing?" he asked, "And since when are all three of you seen out in the open together?"

"Oh Leo! You're here!" Piper exclaimed, going to hug Leo, but he stepped back with a deep frown. Dean and Prue just watched bug-eyed as Piper put her arms down, a hurt look in her chocolate eyes, "What's wrong?"

"I knew you'd do something stupid like this," Leo scoffed at her, making it clear there was history between them. The witches had figured that much since he was their white lighter, but there seemed to be something more; some distaste for them, "You used your magic in public. What's the matter with you? Are you insane?"

"Leo…" Piper started, but Dean stopped her. He had to quickly remind her that this Leo thought that the three witches knew all about the future.

"You wanna end up like Phoebe and Adam?" Leo continued with his rant, looking between the three witches, "We had an agreement, all of us. No using magic and no spending time together out in the open for Melinda and Mary's sakes," Leo then looked directly at Dean, "I thought you of all people would remember the danger. Hunters are on your tails."

"Hunters." Dean frowned, looking around at the scene around him.

"Melinda?" Piper asked, looking directly at Leo.

"Our daughter," Leo didn't even look at Piper this time until he continued speaking, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Wait, you're Piper's ex?" Prue pointed at the white lighter, eyebrows raised as she put all the pieces of the puzzle together.

Leo didn't have the chance to say anything in reply. A woman walked around the corner, seeing the whole scene frozen. The only four people moving were the three witches and one white lighter. She freaked out, pointing at them, screaming witch at the top of her voice.

Prue and Piper instantly started questioning the whole thing, as Dean looked at a post on one of the lampposts. There were posters everywhere encourage people to turn witches in. Nathaniel Pratt stood with his finger pointing forward like the old World War II posters, as if he was telling them that the country needed people to turn the witches in. _Rid the world of evil_.

While they all looked at each other for an idea of what to do, the scene around them unfroze. People got back to what they were doing, the man who had bumped into Piper spilled coffee all over him.

"Witch!" The woman shouted again, making people turn in the general direction that she pointed. Leo quickly grabbed Piper's hand, rushing them through the crowd to get out of there. Dean and Prue followed, hearing that _they_ would get them. The hunters were coming for them.

* * *

Phoebe stood in the cell as footsteps sounded through the empty corridor. Jumping up from the small, rickety cot, she rushed over to the window, careful not to touch it this time.

"Prue? Piper?"

A man dressed in a sharp black suit, his salt and pepper hair making him look distinguished, stepped in front of the window. He just looked at Phoebe, a smirk playing on his lips, "They haven't come before, why would they now? No…they're gonna be as happy to get rid of you as I am."

"Who are you?"

"I'm sorry. It's been so long since our last visit," the man spoke clearly, now walking so that he could stand opposite her, "Executions are a bitch to plan. Logistics, alerting the media, setting up the platform for your drop."

Phoebe realized that he was talking about her execution. How long did she have? What did she even do to deserve this? She needed to find out more and this was the only way to do that, "You know, I've had a lot of time to do some thinking about why I'm here."

"No amount of thinking will affect the outcome," the man shook his head, a look of disgust in his green eyes, "Justice will be served for your crime."

"Was what I did really that bad?" Phoebe asked, making the man's disgust grow.

* * *

What Phoebe didn't know was that Adam was in his own cell talking to Sam. The older Winchester had just broken some news that the younger one couldn't believe.

"I killed someone? Phoebe and I killed someone?" Adam couldn't believe it. All Sam could do was stand there with tears forming in his eyes. When he'd woken up, he'd been at his desk in the district attorney's office. He quickly realized that he'd become the successful lawyer he'd always dreamed of being. The only problem was, that power came with a price.

When he went through the day, he'd realized that he was on the prosecution against his own brother. Sam couldn't believe that he would do something like that. He would never go up against his brother in the courtroom. He'd always told Dean that he'd be there to defend him every step of the way, and that would stretch to Adam if necessary.

As the morning went on, Sam found out more and more.

 _Nathaniel Pratt walked into Sam's office, while he searched for as much information about Adam and Phoebe as he could. The last 10 years had seen him finish law school and get the position as an assistant district attorney. For someone so young, it meant Sam had had to have done something to jump over others._

" _Are you ready for the press conference, Sam?" Nathaniel asked. Sam looked up from his computer._

" _Erm, sure," Sam doubted himself. Would he have to say something in this conference?_

" _Don't worry, I'll do the talking," it was like the older man could read his mind, "After all, this case is going to get me elected for governor."_

 _Sam frowned at the words. Was this all that the case was? It was all some publicity stunt to get him elected into politics? If that was the case, Sam needed to do something to stop it now. He was certainly in a position to do that._

 _Again, it was like Nathaniel had read his mind. Maybe Sam's poker face still wasn't that great, because the man started talking again, "You made the right decision siding with me to send your brother and cousin down for that ghastly murder. Nobody your age would get to this position otherwise. You put yourself first, something I'm sure you'd never done before. Just how great does that feel?"_

 _Nathaniel walked out of the office, not giving Sam a chance to reply. Not that Sam would have been able to reply. He'd just realized that he'd sold his family out for his own personal gain. What sort of brother did that?_

"I'm still trying to find out all the details," Sam sighed, "I've not had much time with the execution planning. I just wanted to come here and tell you how sorry I am. I have a feeling you and Dean both hate me in the future."

"Why would we hate you?" Adam asked, getting as close to the window as possible. He'd already attempted to touch it when Sam first walked in, but was warned not to get too close.

"I think I helped put you in here."

* * *

"Wait, we killed someone?" Phoebe shook her head, trying to take in the words that the salt and pepper haired man was telling her. The man laughed at her attempt to plead insanity to attempt a stay of execution. He soon made it clear that it wouldn't work.

"Not only have you only got five hours to live, but your cousin is helping to make sure you end up on the end of that noose."

"Cousin?" Phoebe spoke to herself, but something else concerned her more, "Wait, five hours? But that's not possible." The spell was suppose to bring them two weeks before the execution. They were supposed to have time to figure it all out and save her and Adam.

"I'm happy to see the seriousness of your crime has finally hit you," Nathaniel crossed his hands, a proud smirk on his face, "See, you represent everything I abhor. You're a threat. A danger to everything that is good and pure in our world."

Phoebe knew that he was talking about her magic. Part of her felt that this man was a hunter; someone who had been following them for some time, "You're talking out of fear. Just because you don't understand something, doesn't make it evil."

"No, it's you who doesn't understand," Nathaniel shouted at her, "You killed a man using your power and now you're gonna die because of it. I only wish I could burn all of your kind with you. In time I will. This is only the beginning. With your cousin on my side, we will rid the whole world of your kind."

* * *

As Leo led Prue, Piper and Dean through the underground bunker, they took in the sights. There were groups of people—some young and some old, some families and some on their own—living there. Prue spotted a family of witches, teaching their youngest children how to control their powers. Dean had seen a white lighter healing a young witch, who had clearly been on the wrong end of a hunter's knife. Piper couldn't help but look at a group of teenagers, practicing their powers together.

"Leo, listen to me," Prue sighed, trying to get it through to him that they had no idea what was going on, "We're from 10 years ago."

"We have no idea what is going on." Dean clarified, seeing that Leo wasn't believing it. He refused to accept it, pointing at the people in the underground bunker.

"They're in danger because of the witch trials Phoebe and Adam started," Leo growled at them, "Andy is in Michigan trying to protect another lot. He's putting his life in danger…"

"Andy's alive?" Prue asked.

"I was gonna tell you. When Jo called, she said that she had been with him." Dean put his hands in his pockets, a guilty look on his face. He hadn't purposely tried to keep it from her, but there hadn't been a right time to say anything while they figured out the mess that they were in.

"You know what, that part isn't important right now," Piper held up her hands and then looked at Leo again, "How did Phoebe and Adam start these witch trials?"

"What do you three hope to accomplish by pretending not to know…" Leo was cut off by Piper kissing him passionately. Dean and Prue just looked at each other with shocked smirks, before Piper pulled away, "You haven't kissed me like that since…"

"I would kiss you like that now if you would just show up, Leo," Piper glared, "The last time I saw you was three months or so ago when you came by with an arrow sticking out of your shoulder."

Leo frowned, looking between them, "But I…"

"Believe her, Leo," Dean nodded, "I've only been back in town for a few days…"

"Like you're ever in town, Dean." Leo rolled his eyes. Dean frowned, hurt by the words. Would he really leave his family at home; leave his daughter?

"Look, we've come from 2015," Piper continued, trying to get them back on track, "We went up to the attic after Phoebe got a premonition of her and Adam dying. If you don't believe that, then please believe what you just felt in that kiss."

"Wait, 2015?" Leo frowned, his eyes looking at the floor has he remembered something that he had always questioned since doing it, "There was a day that I was sent to the attic to open the Book of Shadows, the future spell."

"That was you?" Prue asked, "I always thought it was Grams."

"No, it was me but They didn't tell me why," Leo looked around at the three witches, finally deciding to trust what they were saying, "So you three have no idea what's happened the last 10 years? Any of it?"

"If we did, we wouldn't be messing up, would we?" Dean pointed out the obvious, making Leo sigh. He quickly explained that the people underground were hiding after being accused of being witches. They'd already seen that some were witches, but some of the others were just innocents; falsely accused. It really was the Salem witch trials all over again.

"So, so what did Phoebe and Adam do?" Piper asked.

"And why isn't Sam with us?" Dean asked another question, wondering why his brother hadn't even tried to call them.

"Sam?" Leo frowned, focusing on that question first. He sighed, and then looked between the three witches, "Sam turned his back on everything a long time ago. He…After becoming a lawyer, he started working in the D.A.s office and stopped protecting the innocent. I don't know what happened between the three of you Dean, but you and Adam went one way and Sam the other. I remember you saying that Sam didn't like what you and Adam were becoming; Adam especially. It wasn't about the innocents anymore, but about ridding the world of evil. So, Sam decided to do that through his job."

"He turned his back…" Dean started, but then stopped his train of thought. He suddenly put all the pieces together, looking up at Leo in shock and disbelief, "He's working with that Pratt guy? He sent Adam down? No, he wouldn't do that. Sammy wouldn't…"

"He did, and he will," Leo nodded his head with a sigh, "You kept saying that he had to be working some other angle, but at the trial six months ago you finally saw him for what he was."

Dean took a step back, as he tried to take it all in. Running his hand through his dirty blonde hair, he tried to think why Sam would do such a thing. Had it been the hunting that had done it all?

"So, Phoebe and Adam? What did they do?"

"Six months ago, they were involved in the killing of Cal Greene."

"The baseball player?" Piper queried, remembering his name mentioned on the news. It was also the reason Phoebe had had the premonition in the first place. It was all starting to fall into place.

"Phoebe would never hurt anyone," Dean shook his head, "And Adam…he protects the innocents."

"This is why Sam was so angry," Leo sighed, "Cal Green murdered someone Phoebe cared about. She and Adam worked together to get their revenge, because Sam wasn't doing enough to punish him. A technicality set him free, and neither had faith in the justice system so they punished the guilty with their powers. Both were caught and magic was exposed by Nathaniel Pratt."

"And now we get the modern day witch trials." Piper nodded her head, finally understand what had happened over the last 10 years. In fact, it wasn't even 10 years but six months.

"Wait, Phoebe's power doesn't kill," Prue wouldn't believe what Leo was telling her. None of them really wanted to believe it. They knew their powers were to protect the innocent, "What did she do? Premonition him to death?"

"Your powers have grown, Prue," Leo explained, "It's been 10 years. You saw Piper's freezing."

"And we've seen your telekinesis." Dean laughed, reminding them of the incident in the attic.

"Dean, your power…be careful with your hands and your anger," Leo sighed, "When you first got it, you did nearly kill someone."

"Wait, so if Phoebe and Adam have been caught, doesn't that mean Pratt knows about us?" Piper asked. Leo shook his head, explaining how Pratt had already done his research into the three of them—well, the four of them with Sam included. Dean had quickly been disregarded when a hunter Pratt was working with had admitted to working a few jobs with him. Dean was known as the witch hunter, and that quickly turned into a story for the press—it looked like the whole of Adam's family was against him for just how unnatural he was.

Prue and Piper had had a little more trouble, but Pratt soon decided that they weren't worth the risk. It looked like the whole family hadn't been close, and nobody knew about Phoebe's extra-curricular activities. Dean and Piper were living together, raising their own children when Dean wasn't on the road with Jo—protecting other innocents and witches but people believed they were hunting the witches—and Prue had thrown herself into her work.

"How did Andy fit into all this? And what about Darryl?" Prue now asked.

"Andy was almost exposed for working with your sister," Leo explained, "Darryl was killed for it but you managed to get Andy away. He went to Michigan to keep witches and innocents there safe. Sort of like this underground bunker. We made up a story that he was killed by a witch to at least give him a hero's send off."

"Okay, so we need to get to Phoebe and Adam."

"No, it's not safe," Leo disagreed with Prue, getting back on track, "To get to Phoebe, you'd have to use your powers and they'll catch you then kill you."

"Leo, this is our sister," Piper pointed out, "Dean's brother. We're not gonna let them die."

"I'll go." Leo sighed reluctantly, not listening to the arguments from the witches about them going instead. It would be better—safer—for Leo to get in and out of there."

Once the witches agreed to the white lighter going in, Prue made the decision for them to go back to Bucklands. They could get the Book of Shadows and then get home.

* * *

Sam had decided that Bucklands was the best place to check. He'd already been to the Halliwell-Winchester Manor, only to find it was empty. He was still relieved that the hide-a-key was still in the usual place, so he'd been able to get in. Since when would he not have a key to the place? That was something he'd have to question later.

Looking at the driveway, he saw the Impala and Piper's SUV there, but no other cars. Maybe they'd taken Prue's to go somewhere.

Getting to Bucklands was easy, getting in was the hard part. There was a lot more security in there now, especially when he attempted to get into the office. Prue's assistant had stopped him right away, and he'd had to make up some story to get in to see her. Luckily, he was no longer lying about working for the D.A.'s office.

"I'm sorry, but Ms. Halliwell isn't in her office right now," the assistant said, with a false smile. Sam could see by her well-groomed hair and sharp, Louis Voutton suit that she was paid way more than she needed to be for her job. At least Prue thought about decent salaries, "You are welcome to wait…"

"I'll wait in her office, thanks." Sam didn't take no for an answer, and stepped down the corridor looking for his cousin's office. He had to wonder whether Prue had told the woman not to interrupt her today, while she figured out what was going on in this future.

Seeing a door with Prue's name on, Sam stopped and raised his eyebrows. CEO of Bucklands? Prue had done well for herself over the last 10 years. He wondered how Dean and Piper had been, remembering that there were a lot of photos of the two of them with two small girls. One of the photos had Jo in it, with Dean's arm wrapped around her as they held a newborn baby, making it very clear that the three of them were a family. One thing that he hadn't noticed was any photos of Piper with a man, but he assumed that the little girl with the chocolate brown hair was hers.

Stepping into the office, Sam looked around to see that it was sparse and almost too professional. It was nothing like it was now, and Sam had to wonder whether the last 10 years had hardened Prue. There were no photos on her desk, suggesting that she was no longer close to anybody. At least in the past, there was a photo of the six cousins together and another photo of her and Andy. Prue wanted the reminder of them when she was at work.

Thinking back to his own desk, Sam had remembered there weren't any photos at all there, either. He had no-one in this future.

The sound of voices on the other side of the door alerted him to someone coming. One voice was loud and clear, and definitely belonged to the woman Sam had seen behind the assistant's desk.

"Okay, good news first. The acquisition paperwork was approved and…" the door opened and Prue and Sam instantly locked eyes. Prue grinned at her cousin, before rushing over to him, "I'm sorry, I forgot the district attorney's office…this is…"

"Hey, Sammy," Prue hugged her cousin, with a large grin, "Dean's been worried about you. You have no idea what we've been hearing."

"Believe me, I think I know."

"Yes?" The assistant now said, catching the cousins' attention. They turned to see Piper and Dean standing at the doorway. Piper was looking at the assistant, pointing at Prue, while Dean grinned at his younger brother.

"I'm with her."

The assistant looked between Prue, Piper, Dean and Sam. This was clearly something she wasn't used to.

"That's Piper, my sister," Prue pointed out and then indicated to Dean and Sam, "And these are my cousins, Dean…Sam…"

"Oh, right," the assistant laughed off the awkward situation, "I forgot you had others. I mean your other sister and cousin…" There was an awkward moment between them, as they thought about Phoebe and Adam's current situation. It was Dean who saved it, as he mentioned how he'd forgotten the girl's name. It was clear none of them ever came here.

"Anne. Ms. Halliwell's personal assistant."

"Anne, right," Prue grinned nervously, and decided to do some digging into her own personal life from the last 10 years, "Do you know if my husband called by any chance?"

"Husband, good one," Anne laughed, seeing it as a bad joke, "Like you have the time." Anne couldn't help but praise Prue's had at making the board see sense in the acquisition, even if it did mean a lot of layoffs. The part where Prue said something about 'to hell with the little people' was really a cause for concern. The four cousins looked at each other, frowns on their faces.

Prue quickly recovered from the shock that she would do something like that, and turned her attention back to Anne, "Okay, sweetie. I really need some private time with my sister and cousins, so if you can just…"

"No problem. Just buzz me."

With that, the assistant was out of the office and the four witches were left alone. Now it was time to get onto the whole issue of the hidden Book of Shadows and what Sam had been up to.

"This was the first chance I got to get away from Pratt," Sam sighed, "I don't know what happened over the last 10 years but I think I had a hand in sending Adam and Phoebe away."

"You did," Dean nodded, "At least, that's what Leo says. He said you didn't like how far we were going, or something like that. You stopped protecting the innocent."

Piper and Prue glared at Dean, as he twisted the truth. That wasn't what Leo had said at all; in fact, it seemed like Sam was trying to protect the innocent through the legal system, while Dean and the rest of them had focused on getting rid of evil. Dean glared at his cousins, a sign not to go into all the details.

"I can't believe that, Dean," Sam shook his head, "I would never stop protecting the innocent. I mean, two days…well, 10 years and two days ago…I was broken up about losing a couple of innocents. I still am."

"Maybe there's more to it," Piper suggested, as Prue used her safe key to get the Book of Shadows back out in the open, "There has to be more to all of this."

"Well, I haven't had the chance to go through it all, but I found all this," Sam pulled out a large stack of papers from his briefcase, placing them on Prue's sparse desk. Dean and Piper quickly went through them, realizing that they were all about witches—notes scrawled on them for Dean to get to people or how Jo and Andy were already protecting them elsewhere.

Piper laid her hands on a letter that was addressed to Dean. Frowning, the eldest Winchester brother grabbed it and opened it up. Quickly scanning it, he looked up at his brother and handed him the note, "Looks like I'm not supposed to get that yet."

Sam grabbed the piece of paper, as Prue but a much larger Book of Shadows on her desk, on top of the stack of papers. The three witches watched Sam intently, as his eyebrows slowly raised.

"I actually did it," Sam sat down on one of the chairs, loosening his tie off and running his hand through his gelled hair, "I can't believe it…I made sure my own brother was executed?"

"Why would you do that?" Prue asked, leaning on the desk to try and sneak a peek at the letter.

"Turns out he wanted the witch trials to end as soon as possible," Dean sighed, "Sending Adam and Phoebe down was the quickest way to do that."

"So my self 10 years into the future was also planning on killing himself," Sam shook his head, putting the letter down on the desk and looking up at Dean, "I…I…I don't know what to say."

"Let's concentrate on the nightmare some of our lives have become later," Prue sighed, "We need to get back to the past. We know what happens now, so we can stop it."

Dean and Sam looked at each other. There was guilt filling the younger brother's eyes, but Dean placed his hand on his shoulder, "I don't blame you. Maybe this Dean from this time does, but I don't. We can stop it all from happening."

Piper joined her sister, as they flipped the pages of the Book of Shadows, "Okay, it should be after the demon with the tusk and before the spell to discourage a lover."

That was where it was in 2015, anyway, but now that the Halliwell sisters were looking through it, they soon realized that it wasn't there. The spell was a one-time deal, and it was quickly evident that their future selves had already used the spell. They had no way of getting home.

* * *

Phoebe looked up as blue and white lights filled her cell. Hoping for her sisters, she quickly realized that there were only two figures and Leo was one of them. The other was Adam, dressed in the same get-up as her. His blonde hair was completely disheveled and he hadn't shaved in months.

"Okay, Phoebs," Adam grinned, hugging his cousin, "Leo, you can get us…"

"Shh, they'll hear you." Leo warned them. He wasn't about to get them out of there. It wasn't something he could do. Once they realized that, both glared at him. What was the point in him coming here if they weren't going to get out?

"I really wish you'd remember what you'd both done," Leo looked at them, guilt and sorrow filling his green eyes. Running his hand through his blonde hair, he continued to explained, "It'd make this so much easier. Your future selves used witchcraft for vengeance. Pratt is using that as a platform."

"Wait, Sam said we'd killed someone."

"You've seen Sam?"

"He's working with Pratt," Leo sighed, "Look, your powers have grown over the last decade. They've changed and so have you, which means unfortunately you have to suffer the consequences."

"I don't believe it." Phoebe shook her head, tears filling her eyes. She wouldn't kill a man. She was all about protecting the innocent.

Leo held out a newspaper in his hands. He knew that this would help her get a premonition of the terrible thing she and Adam had done together. Hesitantly, Phoebe grabbed the newspaper, pulling her into a vision of the past.

 _Cal Greene stepped into a corridor. It wasn't clear where they were, but that didn't matter. The next minute Phoebe saw was Adam stepped into the vision, wearing a dark trench coat and jeans. There was an anger in his eyes, as he held out his hand._

 _Cal Greene looked at Adam in shock, before grabbing his neck. Adam gripped his hand into a fist, and the baseball player dropped to his knees. That was when Phoebe jumped out behind Cal. Nodding at his cousin, Adam released the athlete, allowing Phoebe to get her revenge. Placing her hands either side of Cal's head, she allowed electricity to fire between her fingertips._

 _The baseball player's body shuddered and shook as the electricity passed through his body. The lights flickered around them, as his eyes rolled into the back of his head. The next thing they knew, Cal's body dropped to the ground and the electricity stopped._

Phoebe looked at Leo in shock, tears streaming down her face, "Oh God! What did we do?"

Leo sighed, grabbing Adam's shoulder and orbing the two of them out. Phoebe couldn't even think about where they were going. Dropping to her knees, she grabbed her chest. The pain was too much. How could she possibly kill someone with her powers? What had she become in the future?

* * *

The four cousins had gotten back to the Halliwell Manor. Without the spell to get them back to the past, they were royally screwed. It meant that they had to save Phoebe and Adam, and then they needed to get away. And none of them had any idea how they were going to do it. Not only did they not have a memory of their lives for the last 10 years, but they had no idea what the world was like. They'd already figured out that technology was advancing like crazy.

Once they were back in the Halliwell-Winchester Manor, the four cousins looked through the Book of Shadows. It was much larger than it had been 10 years in the past, and Dean quickly pointed out that there were a lot of new spells in there. He had read that Book from cover to cover numerous times and knew what was in there.

"We've got a spell to create a door, one to induce slumber, a glamor to change one's appearance," Prue rattled off the list of spells, as they all sat down in the living room, "Some of them have these little baggies attached."

Piper fingered the bags, deciding that they had to be potions. Something she'd have to remember to do in the future—or more like in the past.

"Okay, this is crazy," Dean frowned, "There are spells to create money, erase memories, bend someone's will. There's even a binding spell."

"Why would we need all these?" Sam asked, leaning on his legs as they went through more spells in the Book. Dean held back his retort about Sam clearly not being a part of all this. It was clearly a plan. Their future selves had obviously been working together in secret, and were going to break Phoebe and Adam out of jail and then get away. There was even a prison map, making it clear that this was all about their fellow witches.

"No, these are all personal gain spells," Piper shook her head, "We wouldn't use magic for personal gain."

"We wouldn't," Prue sighed, looking at Dean as she knew they were having the same thought, "Maybe our future selves would."

"For Adam and Phoebe…to save their lives…I'd do it." Dean now admitted. Granted, he'd considered these sorts of spells for himself briefly, especially after the St. Louis incident, but had decided against it. Being in jail in the current time period without exposing magic was fine; he'd deal with that. His baby brother going to his execution…no, he would definitely use magic for personal gain to break him out.

Before they could discuss things any further, Leo walked into the house. They all looked up, hoping to see him with Phoebe and Adam but were sorely disappointed to find him on his own. It didn't take long to find out that he was never planning on breaking them out in the first place. If they got out, the witch trials would never end.

"You're signing their death warrants." Dean stood, walking over to Leo. The other witches stood behind him, partially trying to calm him down but also angry at Leo's actions.

"This is to protect the greater good," Leo tried to explain, "There'd be persecutions if you saved them with your magic. Your daughter…my daughter…they'd grow in a world where their powers are punishable by death. Do you really want that?"

"No, but I also don't want my brother and cousin to die." Dean shouted, a light bulb above them exploding. Sam looked up in shock, but Dean was too busy staring Leo down to notice that anything was happening.

"Dean…" Prue held out her hand, but Dean continued.

"You're our guide. You're supposed to keep us safe," Dean shouted at the man, "Where were you when they were both clearly going off the rails? When we were all clearly giving into our dark sides? The dark side of magic?"

Another light bulb exploded above them, and this time Piper shrieked. Leo looked up and then back at Dean, "Dean, you need to calm down. I warned you about your powers growing…your emotions…"

"I don't give a crap about my emotions, right now," Dean shouted back, "This is about my brother. My baby brother. I've only just got him back thanks to one son of a bitch. Now you're telling me 10 years later he's gotta die again? No…not a chance in hell. I ain't gonna let it and if you're not gonna help us then you might as well…"

Suddenly the grandfather clock exploded, wood and metal scattering everywhere. Everyone except Dean screamed or yelled. All Dean could do was just look at the space, where the clock used to stand. Strangely enough, the base of the clock was still intact, bits of wood just about clinging on for dear life.

Piper quickly flicked her wrists, freezing everything including her future ex-husband, "What the hell was that, Dean?"

Dean looked at his brother and cousins, a sheepish look on his face, "I guess we know how my power grows now."

Sam laughed incredulously at the incident, "You think? Anyway, how long will he stay frozen for, Piper?"

"A while if he knows what's good for him."

"Good. Let's get these spells and get our siblings outta there."

* * *

The withes had one stop to make first. Dean drove the Impala to a house that they'd found in Piper's address book, pulling up outside and looking over. Piper had a piece of paper in her hands, playing with it nervously as she sat in the passenger's seat.

"If you two are gonna do it, you need to do it now." Sam said, leaning forward to talk to his brother and cousin.

"Phoebe and Adam have less than an hour."

Finally deciding to go through with it, the two cousins rushed over to the house, looking through a window to see Melinda and Mary both playing. They were surrounded by dolls as they sat at a table, pouring pretend tea for their tea party.

"They're adorable," Dean smiled softly, "At least they'll grow up together."

"I guess there's one saving grace."

Leo orbed in just in front of the two of them, while they hesitated with going through with the final step.

"You don't need to bind their powers," Leo now said, looking at his daughter and her cousin with a soft smile, "We agreed that Jo and I would take care of them, and we will. I will until Jo gets back. I promise you both that."

Piper looked at her daughter and then down at the binding spell in her hands. She couldn't do it anyway. She'd hated the fact that this was something her grandmother had done to her and her family. Melinda and Mary had a right to learn to control their powers now and know all about their heritage.

"So, we were together," Piper now smiled as Leo, finally seeing a softness in his green eyes, "Does that mean you clipped your wings for me?"

"No, you wouldn't let me," Leo laughed, knowing that they'd had that conversation a lot over the years. For Piper, they'd only had the conversation once and it had left with him leaving again, "We tried to make it work but our powers…it didn't. And then this happened."

"Were we happy? Even just for a little while?" Piper now asked, tears filling her eyes. When Leo nodded, she smiled and looked back at her daughter. That was one saving grace.

"Are you gonna try and stop us?" Dean now asked, glaring at Leo. He was still angry for Leo not bringing Phoebe and Adam to them. It would have prevented the need for all of this.

"I can't do that," Leo shook his head, holding his hands up in defense, "Just so you don't take all this to the past with you, you and Jo are great parents to Mary. You're not together—could never make it work after your one-night stand for some reason—but you make a great team as parents and as hunters. I shouldn't tell you all that, but, well, I know you'd need to know, Dean."

While the two cousins talked to Leo, Prue and Sam were watching from the back of the Impala. Prue had a sad look in her blue eyes, as she realized that there was nobody to really say goodbye to. She and Andy had obviously gone their separate ways after everything with Phoebe, and she wasn't even sure if they still talked. It didn't look like it. Surely he would have called her by now if they did.

"I have no-one to say goodbye to," Sam chuckled to himself, a sad look in his own eyes, "You know, when my future self was gonna kill himself, his tombstone would just read 'here lies Sam Winchester. He worked hard getting his brother executed'."

Piper and Dean climbed into the car, taking a moment to really reflect on everything that they were going to do. Dean finally took a deep breath, before saying, "Let's go save them."

"You know Phoebe's premonition made it clear that we'll fail." Prue had to point out the negative.

"And we can change that premonition," Piper disagreed, "Our future selves might have failed, but we won't."

Dean drove them as close to the penitentiary as he could risk. They would need to get to the Impala afterwards. One thing Dean Winchester was not leaving behind was his baby…even though he was clearly leaving his real baby girl behind. He kept telling himself that that was for her safety more than anything else.

He'd grabbed a couple of guns, passing some to his brother and cousins too. While they didn't really want to take guns into this, they knew it was better to be protected.

As they ran up to the wall of the penitentiary, Piper pulled out the sheet from the Book of Shadows. It was to create a door, so they could get into the prison.

"Hey, don't people normally break outta prisons?" Dean chuckled, as Prue stepped forward.

"Nothing about this is normal." His eldest cousin retorted, before looking at the sheet of paper for the instructions for the spell. It was a very easy one. They just needed to draw an imaginary door on the wall and then say a spell.

As Prue traced a door with her finger, Sam frowned, "Bit small for us, dontcha think?"

"Shut it, Sasquatch." Prue grumbled, "When you find your path is blocked, all you have to do is knock."

Piper quickly knocked on the wall, and a door opened. Mentioning something about having to remember that spell, Dean led the way through the door, his gun raised.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the penitentiary, the two witches realized that their time was up. Both were handcuffed, and placed in the corridor next to each other. They were then cuffed together, making it much harder for them both to escape.

The fear in their eyes made it clear that they knew they weren't getting out of this one. They just had to hope that someone came through for them.

* * *

Dean walked straight forward, running into a guard. The guard put his own gun up, ordering everyone to freeze.

"Okay." Piper shrugged her shoulders and flicked one of her hands. Dean smirked, stepping around the guard as they continued their way through the penitentiary. Prue pulled the map out, showing it to her cousin so he could lead the way to the execution block. With the time they had left to spare, they knew that was where the escape would have to take place.

* * *

Phoebe and Adam were led directly through to the execution room. The stand would mean that they would stand eight feet above the ground, plenty of room for them to dangle once they dropped; that would be if they were still alive. After finding out about being a witch, Adam had done enough research to know that hangings usually killed people instantly by snapping their necks, as long as the noose was done correctly.

"I love the sight of dancing witch." Nathaniel said, stepping in front of them before they were led up the steps to the nooses. Phoebe had already spotted the two nooses; the ones that she remembered from her premonition.

"At least we'll pay for our crimes," Phoebe told him, "There'll come a day where you have to pay for yours, too."

Adam just glared at the salt and pepper haired man, as he laughed about how they were truly evil; remorseless to the end. He stepped aside, and the two witches were led up the stairs, the nooses placed around their necks after they were unchained from each other. Their arms were pulled behind them and cuffed again, making it impossible for them to get out of this alive.

Nathaniel turned to the crowd that Adam now noticed was watching the execution. He knew that some would be the family of Cal Greene, but others were just there to see it. Some of them had signs, wishing the witches dead, making Adam feel sick to his stomach.

"Let today be a lesson to all those who would seek to defy human nature with their way of life," Nathaniel shouted to the crowd, "Let today serve notice that black magic will not be tolerated in our society and let today be remembered as the day we hung the witches."

Out of the corner of her eye, Phoebe saw movement. A door opened, and Dean rushed in with a gun raised. Piper quickly followed, freezing the entire scene. Prue and Sam weren't that far behind them.

Dean rushed straight up the steps of the stand, getting the noose from around both his brother and cousin's necks, "Let's get you both outta here."

"No, you can't," Phoebe shook her head, earning a frown from everyone else. Even Adam couldn't understand what was going on inside his cousin's head. Prue, Piper and Sam climbed the stairs. Phoebe looked at everyone in turn, "I'm serious about this."

"What are you talking about?" Prue asked, looking between the two witches in orange jumpsuits.

"Phoebe, we can get outta here," Adam told her, "Do you really wanna die?"

"We deserve to be here, Adam," Phoebe told her cousins, "I wish I could somehow show you, but we really do deserve to be here. Well, our future selves do."

"You killed a killer," Piper shook her head, shrugging her shoulders, "This is ridiculous."

"This is Pratt's personal crusade. It's about him, not us," Dean argued, "He's gonna follow us and hunt us. If anyone should be punished, it's him."

Dean held up his hands, remembering what Leo had said about his anger and his powers, but Adam's eyes grew wide. If Phoebe's powers had changed, then he guessed Dean's had grown or changed too, "Wait, what are you doing?"

"Saving the future good witches and our future." Dean stated, but Sam quickly grabbed his brother's arms.

"No, you can't blow him up."

"Blow him up?" Adam panicked, shaking his head, "No, that would make you a murderer. Look, maybe Phoebe is right. The wrong thing done for the right reason is still the wrong thing. We should have been protecting the innocent and we're not punishing the guilty."

Dean frowned, looking between Adam and then at Sam. Sam nodded his head, "The legal system is already there to punish the guilty. Maybe that's what my future self understood. Why I was willing to let Adam die."

"We crossed a line," Phoebe spoke up, looking at everyone, "We both crossed that line. We punished a man because the legal system failed. We shouldn't have done that and now you guys need to know that, too."

Prue and Piper started crying, clinging onto their sister as she started crying, too. Prue sniffled into her baby sister's hair, "We can't leave here without you."

"Prue, we were sent here for a reason," Phoebe cried, "Maybe not to stop this like we thought but to understand it. Understand why it has to happen, why you all need to let this happen."

"Phoebe's right," Adam finally understood after seeing what his brother was about to do, "I don't wanna die—again. But I don't want you guys to die because of me."

The six witches hugged, awkwardly with two of them still in handcuffs.

"I love you." Phoebe cried, as they all pulled apart. Sam clenched his jaw as he placed the nooses back around Adam and Phoebe's necks, while Prue coached Dean down the stairs. The four witches were now at the bottom, looking up as Piper flicked her wrists. Everyone in the area unfroze, and the executioner released the latch. Dean clenched his jaw as he watched his brother's body drop through the latch, the neck snapping right at the bottom. The noose was done right at least, Adam's body swung without dancing; his neck snapping on the way down. Glancing across, he saw Phoebe's body swinging next to him.

Suddenly, the scene in front of him changed. He found himself no longer in the execution room, but in the kitchen of the Halliwell-Winchester Manor; the kitchen from his own time.

Sam, Prue and Piper looked around next to him, "Where are we?"

"Back home?" Piper asked, looking around the room.

"But what are we doing here?" Sam now asked, as he realized that they were without two certain people, "Wait, where's Adam and Phoebe?"

"No, you don't think they were…we saw…" Prue panicked, and then rushed into the dining room. The three other witches followed, praying to anyone who was listening that the future hadn't just played out the way it did.

"Oh God, Phoebe!" Piper exclaimed, rushing over to her sister who was standing next to Adam in the dining room. Both had bewildered looks on their faces. Dean didn't care. As soon as he saw Adam, he rushed over and grabbed him in a hug.

"I thought I'd lost you again." Dean told him, as Sam hugged them both awkwardly.

"You did," Adam admitted, the six witches pulling out of hugs so they could talk, "I hung. I…I remember the noose around my neck and the feeling of being weightless. They suddenly I was here. I don't get what happened."

"It's okay, you're safe now," Sam spoke as calmly as possible, "You're home."

"Home, but when." Phoebe asked, turning on the TV for some sign of a date. The report about cal Greene appeared on the screen, making Phoebe frown. That was the whole reason she had the premonition. This was the day that they had cast the spell. Somehow, without the return spell, they had made it back to their own time.

"The spell worked. We found out what Phoebe did and have comeback to stop it all from happening." Prue looked between her sisters and cousins.

"But why today?" Dean asked, trying to get his head around the whole thing, "Shouldn't we be sent to the day that Phoebe and Adam killed the son of a bitch?"

The sound of a dog barking interrupted their thoughts. Growling, Dean rushed to the living room window, opening it up with a mutter about it happening again.

"I can't believe this guy still hasn't learned his lesson!" Piper shrieked. Dean flicked his wrists, the man with the dog freezing in front of them.

"Apparently neither have we." Adam sighed, looking over at Phoebe.

"This was why we were sent back to this moment in time," Phoebe nodded, "This was where it all started. The first time we used our powers for revenge…at least, intentionally."

"But it's just a little thing. It's harmless." Dean shrugged his shoulders, a frown forming on his features.

"You know, once you break the small rules, it's not that difficult to break the bigger ones," Sam chuckled, "Think about hunting, Dean. First it was credit card fraud with Dad and then you moved onto breaking and entering, grave desecration, would you consider murder if it meant keeping someone safe for whatever reason? You did in the future."

Dean stopped and then looked between his brothers and cousins. He chuckled to himself, before looking over at Adam, "You know, a very smart man once told me that we were supposed to protect the innocent, not punish the guilty."

"I haven't told you yet."Adam grinned, earning a pat on the back from Dean.

"Maybe you won't need to." Prue smiled, proudly grinning at Dean's decision to not get revenge on the dog owner. It was only then that Prue got a good look out of the window and at the man, "Oh my God! That's Pratt!"

The scene unfroze by itself, and they just watched as he walked away.

"Do you think we should follow?" Piper asked, a little scared that the man in charge of the witch trials in the future walked by their house on a regular basis.

"No," Phoebe shook her head, "Maybe it was our act of revenge that set Pratt on his path to seek his own."

"Hopefully, now there won't be any witch trials in the future." Sam smirked, making his way back through the living room and into the kitchen. Dean couldn't help but make a mental note to keep his eye on the guy. There was no way he was going to risk them getting caught and magic exposed because of one man.

* * *

Later that day, Prue had decided that she wasn't going into work and Dean was sitting on the couch, surfing the channels. Sam had had to go in for his internship, but it left Piper, Phoebe and Adam to sit around and do nothing with their cousins.

"So, why are we skiving, Prue?" Dean asked, looking over at her as she turned the pages of some trashy magazine.

"After seeing that future, I don't want anything to do with work," Prue sighed, "I'm going to meet Andy for lunch and that's about it for the rest of the day. Hell, I may even set a date for the wedding with him."

"So, you're still getting married?" Piper asked.

Prue couldn't help but frown, thinking back to the future that she'd just seen. She couldn't understand how she'd never walked down the aisle with him then, even before everything with Phoebe and Adam. Had things really been that bad.

"You know, the future wasn't all that bad," Dean sighed, as the doorbell rang, "Look at the kids we had, Piper."

"What?" Phoebe and Adam both looked at Dean with raised eyebrows, "Piper I could see, but you jerk."

"Shut it, geek." Dean chuckled, opening the front door to see Jo standing on the other side. She brushed her way into the house, newspaper in hand.

"Okay, so, there's a case not too far from here if you're interested. At least I think it's a case."

Dean looked over at Prue and Piper, both wearing knowing looks, and then looked back at Jo. Somehow, this friendship would lead to the birth of a little girl. All he knew was that it would come from a one-night stand and he would have to be careful with Jo from now on. But he couldn't help remember Leo's words; they made a good team.

"How about we let Bobby know about that so he can send another hunter," Dean offered, "Let's go grab some food or a drink or something."

"You just wanna grab food, Winchester?" Jo looked at him with raised eyebrows. Dean just grinned, and motioned with his head for her to follow him.

"C'mon, I'm paying and it won't be the Roadhouse." Dean chuckled, before grabbing his jacket. Jo followed him through, as Prue turned to her sister and spoke in a low voice so Jo wouldn't hear, "You know, maybe some things can still happen, like Dean and Jo and you and Leo."

"Wait, what?" Phoebe looked between everyone confused at what the hell was going on. Before she could say anything, Dean opened the front door to allow Jo out of the house. It was possible that they could make some of the events happen if they wanted them to.

 **Guest Cast List:**

Brian Krause as Leo

Pat Skipper as Nathaniel Pratt

Clara Thomas as Melinda Halliwell-Wyatt

Dan Horton as Cal Greene

Eva Sayar as Mary Winchester-Harvelle

Lisa Connaughton as Prue's assistant

* * *

 **I'd really love to hear what you thought about the changes to this episode. I know there will be a few questions, but some of them will be answered throughout this season. This was just setting up some foreshadowing...maybe you can spot them within the various scenes in the episode.  
**

 **Please do leave me some feedback to let me know your thoughts.**

 **Next week's episode is a tweak of Charmed's season two premiere. There's some foreshadowing in that episode too. See if you can spot it... ;)**


	5. Episode 5: Happy Witchiversary

**I promised I'd be back :) So far, I will have a new episode each Friday but I'm still not quite where I want to be with the writing. I'll tell you if I get to the point I'm not going to update on a Friday.**

 **Thank you for all the reviews on the last episode. I'm so grateful that you're taking the time to read through the long chapters and tell me what you think. Thank you too to those who are messaging me privately to share their thoughts. While I write these episodes, I'm also trying to fix what I've believed have been wrong with Charmed and Supernatural, while mixing the two shows together. It will mean storylines are removed or adapted.**

 **I know there were recently questions over why John turned himself in when he didn't do anything. I was hoping that it would be self-explanatory. John knew that Andy's job was on the line, and he wanted to do something good with his last moments. That was to save Andy's job, while bringing Adam back from the dead...how it all happened will be explained in a later episode. What it means for John-will he become a whitelighter? is he going to hell?-will also be explained later, but I wanted to clarify that point.**

 **Anyway, here is the episode, which is a rewrite of the Charmed season two premiere.**

Episode 5: Happy Witchiversary

Three months.

It had been three months since John Winchester's death. Well, since Adam's death, resurrection and then John's death. Throughout that whole time, he'd searched for anything and everything that John could have done. He'd talked to Ellen, Bobby and many other hunters about possibilities—not sharing all the details but enough—and they'd not heard of anything either. There were a few theories, but none of those theories were coming up with evidence to support John's actions.

Three months and Dean Winchester was officially at a dead end.

Granted, he'd only searched for two months non-stop. The first month he'd been hunting—three of those weeks with Jo and he had to admit they were great. Since then, he'd asked Jo to come along on a couple of hunts with him; with Ellen's permission of course. She wasn't happy about her only child hunting, but being with Dean made it a little easier on her.

Dean still wasn't sure what to do about the information he'd gotten from the future. He and Jo had a kid and it sounded like they were still sort of together, although on the road a lot. Right now, the eldest Winchester was just going to take each day as it came and see where that relationship went, despite his brothers trying everything to set them up.

When Dean wasn't hunting, he was spending time with his family, especially his brothers. He wasn't letting the days slip by after that incident three months ago.

Stepping out of his now parked Impala, Dean walked up the steps to the Manor. One of the good things about Andy bringing him back from the dead and clearing his name was that Trick had taken him back to work. Andy had vouched for him, saying that he was helping with something at the station, which was why he'd had to take off. Of course, Trick had accepted that losing his dad and finding out the life of crime his dad was involved in had sent him for a loop, too. It did help that Dean was one of the best mechanics in the shop, and Trick respected him for how hard he would work when he was in the shop.

It made it much easier with him back in a job. Piper was still working on opening her own business. In fact, Dean remembered that she was supposed to have a business meeting tonight to get a loan for a club space downtown. It was her chance to start following her dream.

Having three paychecks coming back into the household would be much easier, too. The five in the house, now that Adam had moved into dorms, were just about coping with two paychecks. Phoebe had gotten a couple of temp jobs over the summer, helping out when she could with costs, too, but it really wasn't easy.

Just before he opened the door to the Manor, a car pulled up into the driveway. Dean smiled to see Prue in the driver's seat and Phoebe climbing out.

"You two are home late." Dean commented, as Phoebe rushed up the steps to the front door. Prue's cell phone started ringing as she got out of the car, making her sigh. Work was on her case a lot lately with some big auctions coming in. As much as Prue had tried to take a step back after their trip to the future, it wasn't easy to keep it up. All Prue knew was that she didn't want to become the person she was in the future. She didn't want to say goodbye to Andy to protect him and definitely didn't want to be responsible for the job losses of hundreds of people. But that didn't change the fact that right now there was only two of them in jobs right now, so she needed the money. That meant taking this late night call.

"Been shopping." Phoebe grinned, holding up bags in her hands. Dean just rolled his eyes, pulling his baby cousin into the house with a sympathetic smile thrown towards Prue. He knew what it was like resenting the working long hours, but sometimes you just had to do what you had to keep a family in a home with food on the table.

"Sister and cousin witches!" Phoebe shouted out, rushing into the house. Dean let the front door slam shut, as he heard a shriek from Piper. Walking into the living room, his eyes widened. On the couch was a blonde-haired man that certainly wasn't Leo frozen on the couch. Piper stood in front of him, hair a little disheveled and a guilty look on her face.

"Oh my God! I can't believe you said that! Sister and cousin witches? What's the matter with you?"

"How was I supposed to know you were gonna be here with anybody?" Phoebe asked, looking between her sister and the man on the couch, "I thought you were meeting a banker friend."

Piper's face went beetroot, and Dean couldn't help but laugh. Phoebe and himself he'd expected something like this from, maybe Adam and Prue at a pinch, but Piper? No, definitely not Piper. She was the innocent one. She had always been the one who would never mix business and pleasure, and keep relationships as uncomplicated as possible.

"Is this the credit check?" Dean asked, jokingly pointing between the man on the couch and Piper. Phoebe laughed as she put two and two together, while Piper covered her face with her hands. How could she get caught like this? Instantly, she tried to talk her way out of the situation, trying to tell her sister and cousin that she hadn't been making out with Rob to get her business loan, but it wasn't working. It was clear from the smirk on Dean's face that he didn't believe her.

Phoebe has a playful look on her face, "You're way overdue in the sex department. I say go for it."

"I'm not overdue!" Piper threw her hands up in the air, looking directly at her sister, "All right, maybe a little, but that's besides the point. I would never just sleep with a guy to get something. You two know that, right?"

Dean walked over to his cousin, pulling her into a hug, "Piper, will you give yourself a break? You're going through a lot right now. No job, straining to buy the club, you haven't heard from Leo in weeks and have no idea what to do with the information that you two were together in the future…"

Before Dean could continue, the front door opened again and this time Prue walked in, still on her cell phone. The middle Halliwell quickly ushered her sister out of the house and Dean back into position, before getting back to Rob. Flicking her wrists, Rob unfroze and acted as if no time had passed at all. Of course, for him, nothing had happened and he just smiled over at Dean and Phoebe, introducing himself.

"So, are you Prue and Dean?"

"I'm Dean, yes," Dean smirked, but then pointed over to the door. As if on cue, Prue walked in, finally hanging up the phone, "That's Prue."

"I'm Phoebe," Phoebe laughed, at what just looked like great timing, "And you must be Rob."

"Rob, can we take a rain check on the rest of the evening?" Piper quickly turned to face her business loan friend, "It's getting kinda crowded in here." That was an understatement. They'd often said how crowded the house was getting with six of them living under one roof again. Even with Adam now living in dorms, the house still felt crowded. It was getting to the point for Dean where he thought seriously about finding his own place, but he couldn't leave Prue paying for everything in the Manor right now. Maybe later.

Rob just grinned at Piper, agreeing to see her the next day at the club, "Thanks for dinner."

With that, Rob walked out of the house, leaving the witches to talk. Of course, to start with it was all about the loan and whether Piper was going to get it. Phoebe and Dean decided to leave out what they'd walked in on when talking to Prue. It moved onto Prue's day at work and the auction that she was preparing for.

As the two eldest Halliwell sisters started walking out of the room, making Dean and Phoebe stop them. Phoebe quickly started talking, "Wait, where are you going? Have you not realized what tomorrow is?"

"Should we have?" Prue asked, turning her attention back to her baby sister. Piper and Dean also turned to her with raised eyebrows.

"It's our one-year anniversary as witches!" Phoebe looked at them, surprised to hear that none of them had thought about it. Prue frowned, thinking back to the day they got their powers. Had it really been a year? Dean rubbed the back of his neck, a clear sign that he wasn't comfortable thinking back to the day they'd gotten their powers. He wasn't exactly happy about it, and sometimes he still wasn't. Piper shook her head, trying to work out whether Phoebe was right, "Really?"

"Ah ha, and it's falls on one of the most powerful wiccan days of the year!" Phoebe grinned, "It's the autumnal equinox, and according to a witch that we just met at the bookstore…"

"Hold it, a witch?" Piper asked, looking between her sister and her cousin. Had they just let out their secret; something they'd promised not to do at all unless they all agreed.

"You didn't tell her about us, did you?" Dean quickly started panicking. They didn't need any more people finding out about their powers.

"I didn't tell her we're magical witches," Phoebe held her hands up to defend herself, "But I said we were practicing witches. I think after everything we've been through we need to learn more about who we are. Forewarned is forearmed, right?"

"Not necessarily." Dean frowned, really not liking the idea of where this conversation was going. Luckily, Prue nipped it in the bud.

"Maybe we should leave everything alone," she sighed, "I mean, we've been demon-free for over a month now, even Dean's hunts have been at a minimum. Can we just keep it that way?"

* * *

It looked like Prue had spoken too soon. The next morning, Sam was pulled out of bed with a strange feeling. Something told him to go up to the attic. Pulling himself from the bed in Adam's room—what was the point in letting a bedroom go to waste?—Sam padded through the hallway into the attic, to find the pages of the Book of Shadows turning on their own.

Frowning, he stepped closer to the Book of Shadows, wondering what it was going to tell him.

"Dean! Prue!" Sam called out, not taking his eyes off the Book of Shadows, "Phoebe! Piper!"

His cousins and brother ran into the room, hearing the concern in his baritone voice. Their eyes instantly went onto the magically-flipping Book of Shadows.

"What's going on?" Prue asked, now glancing across at Sam. He just shrugged his shoulders, a worried look in his hazel eyes.

"How does the Book even do that?" Piper asked, pointing at the large tome on the pedestal. Suddenly, the Book stopped its magic, and remained on a page. Phoebe rushed over to the family Book to read the page.

"Rite of passage. Fight it with the Power of One or else…"

Before Phoebe could finish speaking, a vortex opened in the wall. A wind blew around the room, making books and paperwork fly everywhere. Even the lighter pieces of furniture were moved across the room. A demon, looking strangely like a pointy-nosed hobbit, sat in the vortex, looking directly at the five Charmed Ones in the room.

Piper raised her hands, as if ready to freeze the creature, but it waved its own hands. The others just watched as she flew through the air, crashing into a bookshelf behind her. Dean rushed after her, to make sure she wasn't hurt.

It left the other two sisters and Sam to face the demon. Prue tried to wave her hand, but again the demon acted out. Prue found herself being thrown across the room, crashing into the bookcase in the corner. Books fell down on top of her.

"Prue!" Phoebe called out, rushing to her sister. Sam kept his eyes on the demon. All he could do was watch as the pointy-eared creatures held out his hand and the Book of Shadows flew into the vortex, and the vortex closed behind him.

"What the hell was that?" Phoebe asked, looking up at Sam who still had his eyes trained on the wall that the vortex had previously opened.

"Where's the Book of Shadows?" Dean now asked, more concerned that their family book was no longer on the table.

Prue grabbed her head, sitting up and looking around the room, "So much for being demon free."

* * *

Opening Credits

* * *

The Halliwells and Winchesters looked through all the pieces of paper scattered around the attic. They turned over every book in hope that it would be the single one they needed. Phoebe looked across the room, at the wall where the vortex opened. Maybe there would be a way to get it open. Walking over to the wall, she started banging hoping against everything that it would work.

Adam rushed into the attic, looking around, "Hey, what did you need…What the hell happened?"

Sam looked up with a small smile towards his brother, quickly explaining everything that had happened before he'd called for him to come over.

"That literally came out of nowhere and just disappeared." Phoebe sighed, pointing over towards the wall that the creature had appeared from.

"And it took the Book of Shadows," Sam rubbed the back of his neck, "Nothing has ever done that before. That was one powerful son of a bitch."

"If he was so powerful, why didn't he kill us?" Prue asked the obvious, making everyone look directly at her. It was the question they were all avoiding. Why had the demon just thrown them across the room rather than causing their deaths? He could have easily done it.

"What did the Book say about fighting with the Power of One?" Sam now asked, looking over at Phoebe. The youngest Halliwell just shrugged her shoulders. That was all it had said. The vortex had opened before she had a chance to read the rest of it.

"What is the Power of One?" Adam now asked.

"The strongest witch?" Sam suggested, looking over at Prue. Being the eldest of all of them, it would make sense for her to be the strongest witch. Prue wanted to disagree, but it didn't help. It was clear that demons and warlocks all feared Prue the most. They'd regularly said that she was the most powerful. After all, she'd overcome her fear to get rid of the Demon of Fear earlier in the year.

"We need to find the demon first," Phoebe sighed, "And fast because without the Book of Shadows, we're not the Charmed Ones anymore."

As that last comment hung in the air, the doorbell rang. Nobody was expecting anyone, so it left all of them making their way down the stairs to see who it was. Dean was the first to the bottom, opening the door to see a small girl walk through. She couldn't have been more than 16, but Dean was going to put her more towards 14 and 15.

"Can I use your phone, please?" She asked, pushing past Dean as she spoke. Phoebe was at the bottom of the stairs by now.

"Well, actually, we're…" Dean started, rubbing the back of his head, but it was clear the girl wasn't going to take no for an answer. Saying it was an emergency, she picked up the phone and started dialing. Dean instantly didn't like her rude attitude, and Phoebe just watched her with raised eyebrows.

By now, the other Halliwells and Winchesters were at the bottom of the stairs, Prue grabbing her things for work. Dean checked his watch and sighed, he'd have to get going, too.

"Jenny?" A voice called out, just as Dean was grabbing his jacket and car keys. He looked over to see a tall, blonde-haired man standing at the door. There was something weary about him, and sort of familiar, "Jenny, come on. Talk to me."

Phoebe and Piper watched him as he walked in. The man was somewhere in his 20s, and extremely good looking. They couldn't help but admire his form.

"International Operator, please," the teenager ignored the man, who was clearly not her dad. Older brother maybe? "Saudi Arabia."

"Saudi Arabia?" Prue instantly panicked, hearing the country and freaking at the thought of a long distance call. The man who had just walked past Dean had now rushed to the girl, apologizing profusely.

"We're moving in next door, or at least we're trying to," the man said, "The phone's not hooked up yet and cells phones died on the way here."

"So, you're our new neighbors?" Sam asked, looking between the two newcomers. He couldn't help but glance at Dean, who was eyeing them carefully while putting his leather jacket on. The man turned to face Sam with a warm smile, "Name's Dan. Dan Gordon."

"I don't care if the circuits are busy," the girl whined into the phone, "I have to talk to my mom."

"And that's my niece, Jenny, who's obviously not talking to me," he sighed, grabbing the phone out of her hands, "Jenny, sweetie, come on."

The girl glared at him, before storming out of the house. She knocked past Dean, again, making him grab his stomach and rub it gently. Adam didn't miss that and smirked at the disgruntled look on his brother's face.

"I'm sorry," Dan sighed, an apologetic smile on his face as he looked between his new neighbors, "It's nice meeting you."

"You too," Phoebe grinned, watching him leave the house. Phoebe quickly turned to Piper, "I saw him first!"

"Demons now, drooling later." Adam instructed, looking at Dean and Sam for support.

"Sorry, I need to get to work," Dean sighed, "You guys can handle this, right?"

"I need to get to work, too. I have to meet my client before the preview." Prue picked up her purse and started to leave, following Dean out of the door.

"Wait a minute," Sam shouted, stopping them in their tracks. The two eldest of their families looked around, eyes wide clearly questioning why Sam was stopping them, "The most powerful demon we've ever run across opens up some portal in our attic and steals the Book of Shadows and you want to go to work?"

"You think we have a choice?" Prue asked, "We have to work to keep the house!"

With that, the two witches turned and walked out of the house. Sam just looked between his brother and cousins, incredulously. Had that really just happened?

"What was that about?" Adam asked with a frown. There was a loud sigh, as Piper put it all together, "They're stressing over money, again."

* * *

What the Charmed Ones hadn't realized was that the pointy-eared demon was doing far worse than they could ever imagine. Safe on another plane, the demon started reading the Book of Shadows backwards. It wouldn't mean anything for anyone right now, but it meant a lot for this one creature.

If it wasn't for the day, none of this would be possible. He thought he was going to have to wait for years for this to finally happen, but it all just fell into place this autumnal equinox.

As he read through the Book of Shadows, he used his long pointed nails to keep his place. After all, reading backwards wasn't easy.

* * *

Piper, Phoebe and Adam all made their way to the park. Sam had decided to stay at the Halliwell-Winchester Manor in the hope that they'd find something to help them with this new demon. He also wanted to be there just in case the demon showed up again. It was a good job he didn't have any classes that day, otherwise he would have been screwed.

The two sisters and their cousin walked towards the back of Golden Gate Park where it connected with a small woodland area. The trees blew around in the light September wind. The leaves hadn't quite started changing color yet, but Phoebe knew it would only be a matter of weeks that they would lose their beautiful green shades.

Phoebe had come for a small gathering happening to celebrate the autumnal equinox. She'd managed to convince Adam to come along quite easily, since he did enjoy his witch side. Piper was a little more difficult, but she had wanted to find out about this demon and put a stop to him. Really, there was no choice but to come along.

"Adam! I wasn't expecting to see you here!" A familiar voice caught the witches' attentions. Adam grinned when he saw a brunette in a flowing, flowery dress, pulling her into a hug as she joined them.

"Hey, Aviva," he greeted her, grateful that she had really changed since they had met just less than a year ago. He couldn't believe that anniversary was coming up, too, "I wasn't supposed to. Didn't know anything about it until Phoebe told us. We also had a little issue in the attic."

"Oh, nothing too bad, I hope." Aviva caught what Adam was hinting at, but knew not to say anything else. Dean may have been happy not letting people into his life and his secret, but Adam needed to let people in. It had been clear over the last year that he functioned better when he let people in and talked to them.

"What are we doing here?" Piper asked, looking around at the small gathering of men and woman. Phoebe pulled her over, gushing about the energy in the place with it being such a special day. They left the two friends alone, while Phoebe looked around for her own friend.

"It's a convergence." Phoebe explained to her sister, who was nervously watching the people around them.

"I thought we were supposed to meet your witch friend, Phoebs." Piper sighed, put off at the idea of so many other people around. She'd only agreed to come because Phoebe's witch friend might be able to explain the stuff from the Book of Shadows, without really knowing about the magical side of things.

Phoebe didn't have to say anything, as Stevie, a beautiful, brunette-haired witch stepped through the trees. The youngest Halliwell grinned, rushing over to Stevie to hug her.

"Oh, Phoebe, I'm so glad you could make it."

"I wish I could say we were completely here for this," Phoebe sighed, "We really need to talk to you about something."

"Piper, am I right?" Stevie looked at the other brunette Halliwell with a small smile. When the two sisters nodded, the witch then looked over at Adam, "And that's either Dean or Adam…I'm guessing Adam from what you told me about your eldest cousin."

"Yeah, there's no chance I'd be able to get him here!" Phoebe laughed, "Um, so is everybody here a witch?"

"Oh, no!" Stevie shook her head, looking around at the group of people gathering around the small stone altar in the middle of the woodland, "It's just a group of believers, men and women who know of this special place and who've come to celebrate. By the way, happy anniversary."

"That's what we wanted to talk to you about," Phoebe bit her bottom lip, slightly guilty for that feeling of using her new friend. _It's not using someone, Phoebe_ , she had to remind herself, _it's admitting you need help_. And that was all it was. There was something playing on her mind after the events of this morning, "Why did you say that today was gonna be a powerful day for us?"

"Because your anniversary falls on the equinox," Stevie explained, not put off by the question in any way. At least, if she was, she wasn't showing it, "It's a powerful day in and of itself, but for you this convergence of powers is even stronger."

Of course it was. The potential for power could be greater, and all they would have to do was connect to it. When Stevie offered them the chance to try, Piper quietly panicked. It wasn't something she was up to. While she had become much more confident in herself, especially after her trip to the future two months ago, she was still nervous when it came to others finding out about their powers; about them being witches. That circle of people was slowly growing and Piper felt like it made her more nervous with each added person.

Phoebe and Adam were both up for connecting, despite Piper protesting. Being outnumbered, she had no choice but to follow her sister and cousin to the small altar, and face the other people joining them for the convergence.

"I don't wanna connect," Piper turned to her sister and spoke in a hushed whisper, "I don't wanna try it."

"We have to," Phoebe whispered back, turning to fully look at her sister, "What have we got to lose?"

It was only then that they noticed the goldfish impression and then stifled groan from Adam. When they looked at the group of men and women around the stone altar, they couldn't help but notice that nobody had clothes on. It was soon clear that they would have to lose their clothes.

"Okay, you didn't tell me this was gonna happen." Adam spoke through gritted teeth at Aviva. She played dumb, shrugging her shoulders as she slipped out of her floral dress. Adam's eyes widened, before he looked straight ahead, only to come in line with another pair of breasts. He looked up to the sky, trying to find a way out of this. The last thing he wanted to do was get naked in front of all these strangers and his two cousins.

Piper had similar apprehensions, slowly backing away from the altar. Phoebe, on the other hand, was all up for trying something new. Quickly starting to take off her clothes, she surprised both her sister and cousin.

"What are you doing?" Piper asked, shocked at her sister's actions. While Phoebe was a free spirit, Piper had never expected this from her. She didn't even know where this side of her had come from. They needed Prue or Dean here to talk some sense into her. Maybe Sam would be helpful.

"When in Rome," Phoebe shrugged her shoulders, brushing off any comment about it being illegal in the state of California, "It's totally natural. It's not like we'll be the only ones naked."

Piper was the first of the two witch cousins to give into Phoebe's request. Adam took a little more time to think over the consequences, before finally stripping himself out of his black t-shirt, basketball shorts and boxers. He just couldn't believe what he was doing. His brothers would have a field day if they heard about this.

 _The Power of Three_

A voice in the wind called out to the three witches, but only Phoebe heard it at first. She frowned, looking around to find out who had said it. Everyone had their eyes closed—except for Adam and Piper—and it hadn't looked like anyone had spoken to them.

 _The Power of Three_

There was the voice again, and this time Phoebe knew that nobody had spoken.

"Did you just hear that?" Phoebe asked her sister in a whisper.

"Hear what?" Piper shrugged her shoulders. Adam frowned, but then heard that same voice as Phoebe in the wind.

 _The Power of Three_.

Grams? Adam was sure it was Grams' voice, but that didn't make sense. Grams couldn't be here, although it didn't stop him from covering himself up thinking about her looking down on him. He soon became the self-conscious teenager he had been at puberty when it came to being around his grandmother with barely anything on.

* * *

While her two sisters and youngest cousin enjoyed their time in the park, Prue was busy with the meeting with one of her clients. She'd really wanted to get away from the office today, but this was important and she was the most qualified employees in the whole building. Walking through the building, Prue looked through the inventory before meeting with her client. She was supposed to meet her at 10am and now it was…

Prue checked her watch and mentally cursed at herself. It was after 10. Rushing to her office, she could see a red-headed woman standing in the room, looking at some of the items that would be put up for auction, "Mrs. Milton. Hi, I'm sorry to keep you waiting."

"Oh, not a problem at all," the woman softly replied, a warm smile on her face. It wasn't often that Prue would come across a client like this. With the amount of money they usually had, they would often speak down on the Bucklands staff, "I was just looking around."

"Well, I think that we'll have a great turnout for the preview," Prue smiled, looking over at some of the beautiful items. There were times that she was jealous of some of the artwork and jewelry that people would go home with and this was one of those times, "We've been getting an excellent response to your husband's collection."

"Well, I have to say that I'm not surprised," the woman chuckled to herself, a sad look forming in her eyes, "It's just a shame my daughter Anna couldn't join us this morning. But she had to get to college."

"I understand. Two of my cousins are in college. One has just started last month, actually."

"So has Anna!" Mrs. Milton grinned, "I hope he's better at making friends than Anna is. She was always such a shy and reserved child."

"Well, Adam definitely isn't shy and reserved," Prue chuckled, if only she knew what he was up to at that moment in time. There was a gentle silence between the two, before Prue continued talking about the auction, "I know the opening bid prices look a little low, but don't worry. They should attract a lot of buyers, resulting in a bidding war. It's the best way to sell inventory like this at top dollar. Is that all right with you?"

Mrs. Milton looked longingly at the pieces up for auction, silently wondering whether this was the best idea. She had waited a few years before finally bringing the items, but it was still difficult, "Letting go of John's things is harder than I thought it would be."

"It's only natural," Prue smiled softly, knowing how her cousins were dealing with letting go of John Winchester's things. Prue wondered what it would have been like to give away Adam's things if John hadn't managed to work some sort of magic; whatever that magic was, "It's not easy."

"I suppose that you deal with death quite a bit in your line of work, don't you?" Mrs. Milton asked, looking directly at Prue. Suddenly, Prue's heart started to race. Had the woman somehow worked out that she was a witch? Somehow found out about all the innocents that they'd lost and saved over the last year, "I mean, like this, auctioning off some poor widow's ineritance."

"Oh, this?" Prue sighed, audibly, realizing that her secret was still safe. If the woman had noticed that she had just been scared out of her wits, she hadn't said anything, "Unfortunately, yes."

* * *

Piper rushed through the streets of San Francisco and into the parking lot of her new club. Well it would be if she could get the money together for it. Right now, she was struggling and really needed this business loan. There weren't any financial issues on her credit report, so it should have been a walk in the park…

Thinking about walks in the park, that was just why she was running late now. While she'd agreed to going to the park, she hadn't agreed to dropping Phoebe and Adam all over other parts of San Francisco afterwards. That had led to getting stuck in traffic, and now she was going to have some apologizing and explaining to do.

Cutting across the parking lot quickly, Piper ran into the building for sale and down the stairs. Rob was already there, looking around the place.

"Oh, God, Rob! I'm so sorry I'm late. I got stuck at this thing, then my sister needed a ride…I'm so totally screwed on the loan now, aren't I?"

Rob chuckled at her honesty. Piper hadn't realized she'd even been holding her breath until she finally let herself breath out seeing him shake his head. That charming grin made her go weak at the knees. That was the reason she'd ended up making out with him on the couch after making him dinner last night.

"Don't be ridiculous, I'm just looking around," Rob explained, "Checking things out."

"It needs a lot of work, uh, I know that," Piper glanced around at the small building. It had just one main room, with a bar sitting right in the middle of it. To one side of the bar was a large stage, doors leading to behind it where artists would be able to get ready and set up. The dance floor was surrounded by small booths, enough to fit four to six people in quite easily with space for two chairs on the edges. Piper could already tell that the booths would need some new covers and the tables would need sanding down. That was something Dean had already said he'd take care of if she got the place.

The lights above the stage would need some new bulbs, but the wiring looked perfectly fine. Dean wasn't a qualified electrician but he knew enough to check that part out for her. She would get a qualified electrician in though, just to make sure.

As they walked around the bar, Piper smiled at the small section off to one side. She'd already decided that it would be perfect for a VIP section; not that a club in this part of San Francisco would need a VIP section right away. But she wanted one, maybe just for somewhere for her, her sisters and her cousins to go to start with. On the other side of the bar, there were a few high tables with chairs pulled up next to them. None of them would need work on them, and they were great for those who weren't interested in the musical events on the main stage.

That area then led to the fire escape and back room, which was where Piper was planning to set up a small office. It was empty at the moment, but would be great for all the paperwork.

"The work isn't a problem, though," Piper hadn't heard anything from Rob after mentioning the work the place would need. There were bits of wood hanging from the ceiling and wallpaper peeling from the wall, "And just because the last two owners went bankrupt doesn't mean it can't work."

That had been a major cause for concern when she mentioned the idea of buying the club to her sisters and cousins. Dean, Sam and Prue had all looked into it to find out that the two previous owners just hadn't made it work. Within six months of opening their businesses, they'd failed. It was why the property was back on the market, and had been there for the last three months. It was why the asking price was much lower than it really should have been for the location in San Francisco.

Piper had worried, but that was why she'd done a lot of research—with Sam's help. She'd found three separate studies, all of which had found a 68% interest in the target clientele. It really could work out if Piper was willing to put in the effort. And there was the added point that running a restaurant wasn't that different to running a club.

"You've already shown me all this," Rob pointed out, holding up a small black folder of paperwork. It was the business plan that she and Sam had drawn up over the last two weeks to help increase her chance of getting the loan. The business plan was the most important part, Sam had told her, and he wasn't going to let her fail, "I've got everything except for an understanding of why you wanna put yourself in a position to fail like this."

 _Fail like this…_ Those words rang through Piper's head, and made her more determined to succeed than ever before. Whenever her sisters or cousins had told her that she was going to fail, she'd found some extra courage to go through with things, especially as she got older. It was a Halliwell-Winchester trait not to take "no" or "you can't" as answers, and Piper wasn't about to start now.

"I know the risks and actually it's a lot less risk and a lot less expensive than starting my own restaurant," that was the dream she really had, but sometimes the real dreams had to be put on hold to work up to them. At least she wasn't completely putting her dreams on hold. She was becoming a business owner, "The point is, I'm tired of working for somebody else and helping them realizing their dreams. I wanna run my own place. This place. And I can do it, too. But not without your help."

"Well, at the risk of you never wanting to go out with me again…" Rob sighed, making Piper's heart drop. Her face told him everything. She'd thought that he was going to turn her down. But then a small smile crept onto his lips, "Congratulations."

The brown in Piper's eyes lit up as she heard that one word, "I got it?"

Piper couldn't help herself. She threw herself at Rob, hugging him tightly for giving her the business loan. That led to kissing and the next thing she knew, she was losing her shirt for the second time that day.

* * *

On the other dimension, the hobbit-like demon read another spell backwards, making a familiar looking warlock appear in front of him. Jeremy, with all the thorns sticking out of his face from the last spell the Charmed Ones had cast on him still visible, stood in front of the creature, an athame in his hand.

"Were you vanquished by the Charmed Ones?" The demon asked, narrow his eyes at the warlocks.

"Yeah, why?"

"I'm giving you a second chance."

Jeremy just looked at the demon, not really caring who he was or what he wanted. All he knew was that he got another chance to steal the powers of the Charmed witches, and this time he was determined to succeed.

* * *

Dean tapped his foot along with the song on the radio as he worked underneath the sweet ride that was currently in the shop. He loved it when he got to work on classic cars, especially one that was so similar to his own baby. The '68 Chevy El Camino was a beauty to work on, and Trick had happily agreed to Dean doing the work. It made sense since he was the one that drove and had a full appreciation for classic cars.

While he fixed the broken brake line, Dean saw a set of feet walk past him. They stopped by his own feet, and then a head poked in through the bonnet.

"Hey, Winchester," Harrods—the boy Dean had saved this time last year—grinned. His hair was disheveled and he had grease all over his face. That boy could never stay clean and Dean wasn't sure how he ever managed to get so covered in grease just a couple of hours into the working day, "I'm on a coffee run, you want one?"

"Yeah, please," Dean replied through gritted teeth as he continued to work. He didn't usually like being interrupted while working, but would make an exception when it came to coffee or food, "Lemme just finish this and I'll give you money…"

"It's on me, man," Harrods shook his head, "You know it was a year ago that you saved my ass from that toppling car."

Dean had been surprised the boy had remembered that. The whole reason it was such a major point in Dean's life was because he'd saved him because of his powers. If he hadn't have frozen the car, there was no chance he would have been able to get Harrods out of the way in time. Dean decided to play dumb, though, "Seriously? It's been a year already? Well, you don't need to get me coffee for that…"

"I should be getting you a whole lot more, man. Coffee is nothin'."

With that, Harrods walked away, leaving Dean to get back to work. After pulling an impressed smirk with a shrug, Dean went back to working on this brake line.

 _The Power of Three._

Frowning, Dean looked around to see if there was someone standing anywhere near the car. There wasn't, but he was sure he'd heard a voice. Maybe it was something on the radio. When he listened, he realized the radio had gone silent. Had someone turned it off?

 _The Power of Three._

Dean rolled out from under the car, looking around at his colleagues. Only he, Harrods and Trick were in right now. With Harrods now out for coffee and Trick in the office, it left Dean on his own.

 _The Power of Three._

The voice was just a whisper, but Dean was sure it was a voice now. And he finally heard a familiar voice, but that couldn't be possible. With a frown, Dean looked around, "Grams?"

* * *

Dean wasn't the only person hearing that voice. Piper had pulled away from Rob, putting her shirt back on at the sound of the voice. That was definitely her grandmother's voice, and it left her feeling self-conscious and uncertain of herself; like a child up to something that she shouldn't be.

"Did you hear that?" Piper asked, looking around the room. Rob looked at her, shaking his head, as the voice called out to her again, this time a little louder.

 _The Power of Three_.

It was clear, and it certainly meant something to Piper. Before she could say or do anything else, though, Rob dropped to the floor, his eyes rolling into the back of his head.

"Rob!" Piper shrieked, and then look directly at her attacked. The rose thorns sticking out of his face had always stuck in her mind from the vanquish a year ago. Backing away, Piper screamed. She couldn't believe her vanquished warlock ex-boyfriend was standing right in front of her. There wasn't even time to wonder just how he was back in front of her.

"You're dead, witch." Jeremy snarled at her, but Piper knew just how to defend herself. Flicking her wrists, the warlock froze on the spot, double-edged blade held up high. Now what was she supposed to do?

Prue had just managed to say goodbye to Mrs. Milton before her cell phone rang. When she checked the ID, she just knew she had to answer. Piper wouldn't ring unless it was important or about this business loan she was desperately trying to get.

"Prue, thank God you're there! Jeremy…" Piper instantly rattled off, making Prue cut in to calm her down. When she was panicky, Piper would always talk a million miles per second, and Prue just couldn't understand a word that she was saying.

"Jeremy…he just attacked me." Piper told her, a little slower so Prue could hear her clearly. But just because she could hear her, didn't mean she trusted what she had heard. With a frown, Prue shook her head.

"Jeremy? But that's impossible. We vanquished him a year ago."

It didn't matter how impossible it was, because he was standing right in front of Piper right now. Without the Book of Shadows, it was doing to be difficult. They would need to remember the spell off the top of their heads. The good thing was that Piper was already a step ahead of Prue, and had made calls to her sister and cousin. Right now she had all of them in a six-way conference call.

"AT&T, the Power of Three." Phoebe had joked, helping to jog Sam's memory.

"Wait, wasn't that it? The Power of Three will set us free. All of us said it."

"Grams…" Dean growled, just as Piper shrieked again. Prue wanted to call out for her sister, but it sounded like she'd dropped the phone at the same time.

"Piper?" Adam had called out instead, and Piper quickly came back to tell them that Jeremy had unfrozen and tried attacking her again. Luckily, her reflexes and control over her powers was much better than it had been a year ago. She could put him straight back on ice.

"Crap!" Piper cursed over the phone, "He's fighting through my freezes. He'd adjusting or something."

"Okay, get us on speaker phone." Phoebe instructed. They were going to have to hope that you could do spells through the phone. Prue heard another shriek through the phone, and then a growl from Jeremy. It was clear that he was attacking the middle Halliwell, from the panic in her voice.

"Okay, hurry, now! Now, now, now!" Piper shouted at them.

" _The Power of Three will set us free._

 _The Power of Three will set us free._

 _The Power of Three will set us free."_

The six cousins repeated the lines in sync with each other, waiting for Piper to tell them that it was all over. Finally, there was silence on the line as Piper breathed deeply, "It's okay. He's gone. Again."

* * *

Trick had walked out of his office, just as Dean hung up the phone, visibly paled. His boss instantly knew when something was bothering Dean, and quickly walked over to him.

"Dean, everything okay?"

"Erm, not really," Dean admitted, pocketing his cell phone. The only reason he'd answered was because he saw Piper's name popup on the ID. It wasn't often that she rang him when she knew he was at work, and he couldn't help but wonder whether she'd been turned down for the business loan. He never expected to hear that Jeremy had returned and was attacking her again, "My cousin was just attacked."

"What?" Trick gasped, concern filling his brown eyes. One thing that Dean was grateful for was a caring boss, "Is she okay? Which one?"

"Piper. I'm…I think so…" Dean stuttered, "Do you mind if I take lunch early and check on her? I'll wait 'til Harrods gets back with the coffee."

"Of course," Trick readily agreed, knowing that family meant the world to Dean and it was slowly getting smaller by the year, "Take all the time you and Piper need. I hope she isn't hurt."

* * *

Piper crouched down on the floor as Rob was placed on a stretcher. She'd had to call for an ambulance in the end, realizing that Jeremy had knocked Rob out. Part of her was glad that he had been knocked out for the whole vanquish. That was not something she had wanted to explain to him. How did you explain that your vanquished, warlock ex-boyfriend had come back from the dead?

"How can you not have seen who attacked me? How is that possible?" Rob asked, angry that Piper hadn't been looking out better. Piper bit her lip, as she felt guilty for lying to him. It wasn't that she hadn't seen him, just that there wasn't a very good explanation without telling him her secret. Instead, Sam had convinced her to make up a story about the attacker being masked, so she couldn't see him clearly.

"You know, I'm starting to understand why this place keeps going under," Rob said, referring to a clear idea that the area was a high crime risk. That would mean a low investment chance, "It's something I'm going to be checking into. I can assure you of that."

Piper could just watch as the paramedics carried Rob out of the club. Biting her nails, she worried about her future. The idea of Jeremy coming back scared the living daylights out of her, but she always worried about her business chances. Why did magic have to ruin everything?

"Piper!" Dean's protective voice called out through the club, making Piper visibly relax. If he was here, he would be able to protect them. That was how it had been over the last year, and Piper had realized in the month that he was away just how much she relied on him to protect them all. As she glanced over to the stairs, she saw Prue rushing down behind him.

"Are you okay?" Prue asked, going straight to hug Piper.

"Physically, yeah," Piper nodded, leaning into the warm hug. Dean placed an arm around her, and she couldn't help but cling onto him, "I think my loan's on shaky ground. I couldn't exactly tell Rob it was just a warlock."

"You know it would be a shame if the loan didn't work out," Dean sighed, looking around the place, "I still remember coming here. You know I lost my virginity in the parking lot."

The two cousins looked at him with a mixture of shock and disgust on their faces, before laughing at the situation. Dean just looked at them, shrugging his shoulders. His expression clearly wondered if they expected anything other than that from him.

"It does have lots of potential, though," Prue finally agreed, "I used to come here all the time."

"Okay, wanna loan me sixty grand."

Prue and Dean frowned, moving off the subject of the club and onto the subject of Jeremy. The idea of him coming back wasn't something they wanted to think about. And if Jeremy could come back, just how many other demons, ghosts and warlocks could come back? They'd vanquished so much over the last year.

"Hopefully Phoebe, Sam and Adam will find some answers in those new books they got." Prue sighed, trying not to think of all the demons they'd vanquished. She could already tell from Dean's scared, paled expression that he was thinking about one demon in particular.

"You know, I was sure I'd heard Grams just before he appeared," Piper told her sister and cousin, seeing the surprise crossing their faces, "Phoebe and Adam were sure they'd heard her earlier, too."

"I thought I'd heard her at the garage just before you called." Dean admitted, a frown forming on his features. It was almost like the woman was trying to warn them from the grave.

* * *

Sam typed away at the computer, Phoebe and Adam sitting opposite him in the living room as they looked through the various books they'd both picked up. While they didn't have their own Book of Shadows, they were going to do as much research as they could to find out what had taken it. That meant a lot of books that other witches had recommended.

The sound of a meow caught Sam's attention, making him look out of the window. He smiled when he saw the girl who was moving in next door sitting on the steps, holding Kit the Cat in her hands. There was a sad look on her face, as she stroked the cream and black cat gently.

"What is it?" Phoebe asked, looking up to see Sam's hazel eyes soften.

"I'm gonna go talk to her," Sam sighed, standing and walking out the front door. He smiled down at the girl, as she looked up at him, "Jenny, right?"

"Yeah." The girl mumbled, making Sam sigh. Sitting next to her, he glanced over at the house she was moving into. He hadn't even realized it was up for sale or rent, but then Sam had spent a lot of the summer with his head in books and legal cases for his internship. Since getting back to school, his head was back in the books and he couldn't really pay much attention to the things happening around the neighborhood.

"We didn't really get to say hello earlier, I'm Sam. Sam Winchester," his features remained soft as he tried to ease her into talking to him, "And this is Kit the cat. Get it? Kit Kat. Little play on words my cousin Phoebe came up with. So, shouldn't you be in school?"

Jenny wasn't up for talking much, so it led to Sam asking a lot of questions. Not that he minded. It was going to be something he had to get used to when it came to the court room. Asking the right questions did lead to him finding out all about her moving in with her uncle for the school year, "Until my mom and dad come back from hu…um, their trip."

Frowning, Sam pushed for a little more information. He was sure he'd heard her about to say something else, and he couldn't help but feel his blood run cold. Maybe the number of demons and monsters coming after them on a regular basis was getting to him or Dean's fear of hunters was rubbing off on him, but he was sure he'd heard her about to say something about hunting, "What do your parents do?"

"My dad's with the state department. He gets transferred a lot." Jenny hadn't once looked up at him, but it was no reason to doubt her words. Maybe he was just being ridiculous thinking there was more to her parents being away. Parents did move, although they usually took their kids with them.

"Hey, did you ever get in touch with your mom?"

"It doesn't matter." Her face dropped, as her voice was laced with disappointment and annoyance.

"Sure it does," Sam nodded, "You know, my dad used to travel all the time. I lived here with my Grams, brothers and cousins. But I missed my dad like crazy, still do. I used to try calling him all the time. This one time my Grams caught me. She wanted to know why I wanted to talk to him, and said that if it mattered to me, it mattered."

"Yeah, well, I…it's not somethin' I can talk about, okay," Jenny sighed, "It's girl stuff and I just wanted to speak to my mom. It's definitely not somethin' I can talk to my uncle about."

Jenny started playing with the collar around Kit's neck, grabbing Sam's attention. When Kit had come into their lives a year ago, they'd just thought of it as some strange coincidence. As much as Dean asked them to get rid of her, she just kept coming back and eventually Phoebe and Adam had bought her a collar with a triquetra on it. The back gave their address, but it made it clear that this was their cat. Sam had forgotten all about the collar until now, and everything was quickly falling into place.

The sound of a car pulling up in the driveway caught Sam and Jenny's attention. Looking up, they saw Piper's car pull into the driveway.

"You know, you should talk to your uncle," Sam shrugged, nudging the girl gently, "There's no way your parents would have left him in charge of you if they didn't trust him to look out for you. Whatever it is, I'm sure he can handle it and help. But if he does screw up, there are three women living in this house and I know they'd be able to help with whatever it is."

Jenny smiled gratefully and nodded, just as Piper walked over to them. Sam stood, following his cousin into the house but made sure he took Kit with him as he went. Closing the door behind them quickly, Sam steered Piper into the living room.

"Okay, I think I've figured it out," Sam explained, three sets of eyes now on him, "All we have to do is ask the Book of Shadows."

"Yeah, if only we had that." Phoebe sighed, closing the book that she was reading with a huff.

"I'm serious," Sam knew how crazy that sounded, so held up Kit so they could see the collar, "It's been right in front of us the whole time."

"Kit's collar?" Piper asked, looking at Sam as if he'd grown two heads. It made Sam chuckle, as he pointed at the symbol on it.

"The triquetra?" Adam now asked, leaning forward on his legs before looking at Phoebe, "The Power of Three."

"Is that what Grams has been trying to tell us?" Phoebe looked at her youngest cousin, before turning back to Sam. She had to admit that it certainly made a lot of sense, and she had to wonder why she hadn't thought of that first. Stevie had told her to find their connection and then they'd be able to tap into the power of the equinox. Of course their family symbol was the triquetra. It was the symbol of the Power of Three. The strong power that the two sets of siblings held, even stronger when all six were together. The symbol was even on the front of the Book of Shadows, reminding them of just how powerful it was.

"I don't get it. How can we ask the Book for help when we don't have it?"

Sam and Phoebe shared knowing looks. They were both working on the same wavelength right now, and both had the same idea. Sam grabbed Piper's arm gently, and pulled her towards the sun room. Phoebe and Adam quickly followed, seeing Sam point down at the spirit board, currently sitting out on the wicker table.

"Of course!" Adam laughed, surprising himself that he'd only just realized all this himself. Piper looked at her sister and two cousins with an incredulous look. What the hell was she missing? "The spirit board helped us find the Book last year. Maybe it can do it again."

"It can. If we believe." Phoebe grinned, nodding her head excitedly. She couldn't help but look like a child on Christmas morning with the hope that it was going to work.

Piper still wasn't certain, but she went along with the other witches anyway. The four witches sat around the spirit board, placing their hands on the pointer.

 _The Power of Three._

This time it was clear that all of them heard it, and it was definitely Grams talking to them. While they looked around for their dead grandmother, the pointer started moving around the spirit board. They knew that Phoebe wasn't pushing it this time like they believed a year ago. This was definitely someone talking to them from the other side.

Piper spelled out the word as the pointed moved between letters. When she finished, she looked between her sister and two cousins.

"Abraxas?"

Abraxas was the name of the pointy-eared demon. He lived on another plane, and continued to read through the Book of Shadows backwards. As each spell was read, it was removed from the Book of Shadows. The longer he had this book, the more chance he had of getting rid of the Charmed Ones forever.

The four witches were still reading through the books that Phoebe and Adam had picked up. They weren't as good as the Book of Shadows—in Phoebe's opinion—but they were still decent enough. There were spells and potions that she would have to encourage her family to use later on, when there came a need for them.

"Okay, found it," Dean said, walking in from the sun room, John Winchester's journal in hand. Dean had gotten back from work to find out that they'd communicated with someone—presumably Grams—through the spirit board. Dean had taken John's journal without really thinking about it, so they'd had to wait for him to check it, "Abraxas—a demon of the astral plane who destroys witches by demonizing their powers." Dad put a note next to it that it could be a major threat to us. I can't believe I've never seen this before."

"Maybe he put a spell on that so he could update it from the grave." Adam joked, but decided not to push it any further. Dean frowned deeply, making it clear that he didn't want to discuss his father right now. They needed to work out what this creature was and what it would want to do with the Book of Shadows.

"If our powers come from the Book, maybe Abraxas is turning it evil somehow." Piper suggested. It would mean undoing spells and that would explain why Jeremy had appeared.

They had been so busy discussing this that none of them had noticed the black cloud making its way towards Dean. Sam was the first one to notice a slight movement.

"Oh crap, and the Woogyman." Sam pointed next to Dean, making him turn away. Out of all the things he'd faced, the Woogyman was one that had crept him out the most. Now as it got closer, he couldn't help but try freeze it, flicking his wrists in vain.

"It doesn't freeze." Piper shouted, as Dean shouted for someone to say the damned spell that would put it back in its box.

" _I am light._

 _I am one too strong to fight…"_

Piper started the spell, but the fear of the thing was taking over. She couldn't remember the whole thing. Suddenly, the black smoke started to take over Dean.

"Dean!" Sam shouted, looking around for anything to help.

" _Return to dark, where the shadows dwell…_

 _You cannot have this Halliwell."_

Phoebe continued with the spell, just hoping that she was getting it right. It seemed to spur Piper on to say the rest of the spell, while Adam tried in vain to make the Woogyman get away from his brother with his powers.

" _Go away and leave my sight._

 _And take with you this endless night."_

The smoke retreated back out of Dean's body and down into the basement. It was gone. Again. Dean grabbed the back of the chair, as Sam and Adam rushed over to him.

"You okay?"

"Damn it. Why choose me first this time?" Dean glared at his cousin, a playful look glistening in his eyes.

"I think I know how he's doing it," Piper suddenly said, making everyone look at her, "Abraxas has to be reading the Book backwards. The spell to vanquish Jeremy was at the back, and the Woogyman one just before that. I know, because I wrote it in there."

"And there are many more before that." Adam sighed, looking between his brothers and cousins.

Sighing, Phoebe placed her hand on the fireplace, accidentally catching a photo frame with her index finger. She was instantly pulled into a premonition.

 _Nicholas appeared in front of Prue at her office. There was nothing that Prue could do, before she felt her blood boiling and her organs melting. Hemorrhaging all over her desk, Prue was left for dead._

Phoebe gasped, placing her hand on her chest as she felt everything in the premonition. They were becoming more and more intense, although nothing as intense as that one two months ago when she felt her own death.

"What is it, Phoebe?" Sam asked, knowing the paled, scared expression that Phoebe had when she had a premonition.

"Nicholas. He's gonna kill Prue."

* * *

Prue was about to talk to Mrs. Milton again when her assistant came to tell her that Phoebe was on the phone. Of course it was important. It was always important when it came to Phoebe, but usually was something trivial, especially the last couple of months. Prue didn't have the time for it right now.

Not that she ever had the time for it.

Making her way towards Mrs. Milton, she told her assistant to tell Phoebe she would call her later, making it clear in her voice that this wasn't up for discussion.

"Mrs. Milton?" Prue spoke, startling the poor woman as she looked around at the auction going on. It had already proven to be successful, and Mrs. Milton couldn't help but gush about how good Prue was at her job, "Actually, it says a lot about your husband's collection than it does me. How long has it been since the accident?"

"Three years, two months," Mrs. Milton answered softly, making it clear that it wasn't something that she was every going to stop counting, "How long has it been for you?"

"I'm sorry?"

"You lost someone close to you. I can tell."

"Oh, my uncle," Prue nodded her head with a small smile, "Three months ago. It was nearly my cousin, though."

Mrs. Milton placed a warm hand on Prue's arm, smiling empathetically. Prue had to admit that it did hurt that John was gone. It was nothing like what her cousins were going through, but it did hurt. John had become close to them over the last few months before his death. They had all found out a lot more about him than they had in the 27 years that Dean had been alive. Some of the stuff was from the journals, but they'd had the chance to ask him about that; to get the story straight from the horse's mouth.

While she thought about her uncle, she looked away. In the crowd, she could see a blond-haired man, instantly recognizing him.

"Prue?" Mrs. Milton asked, but Prue was already taking off. She needed to get to her office and make that phone call to her sister.

Prue got to her office, just as Nicholas walked in. He pointed his ring towards her, using his powers to make her blood boil.

"You remember the feeling, don't you?" He sneered, as she dropped to her knees. She did remember the feeling. It wasn't something she was every going to be able to forget, but she had to fight through the feeling.

" _Lavender, mimosa, holy thistle,_

 _Cleanse this evil from our midst…_

 _Scatter…"_

Prue took a deep breath, as the warlock told her everything that was happening to her. Not that she needed to hear it. She could feel every little thing. Her blood boiling, her whole body overheating. Her brain cells were frying, as she quickly finished the spell.

" _Scatter its cells throughout time._

 _Let this Nick no more exist."_

Prue managed to remain conscious long enough to see the warlock disappear in front of her. But then the blackness took over and before she knew it, she was knocked out old.

* * *

The feeling of the blood pressure strap kept Prue in the room. Her head was pounding and she felt sick, but much better than she had 30 minutes ago. The thought of Nicholas being back freaked Prue out a lot. First Jeremy and now Nicholas. That demon stealing the Book of Shadows was causing something to bring back old enemies.

"Prue!" Andy's voice pulled her out of her thoughts as he rushed into the hospital room. Dean and Phoebe were just behind him, making the doctor smile at them.

"I'm okay, guys," Prue looked at them in turn, before turning back to the doctor, "Right?"

"Well, your blood pressure's back to normal. So is your temperature, your electrolytes. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were a perfectly healthy young woman." Of course she was. At 29 years old she should be a perfectly healthy young woman. Nicholas' magic was temporary, but it was a close one. Had she not remembered the spell...no, she didn't want to think that far.

"Does that mean I can go home now?" Prue asked, hope filling her eyes. She could see the concern in everyone else's. The doctor wasn't too certain, wanting to find out what had caused her body temperature to spike so quickly the way it did. If only the doctor really knew.

"It's happened to us all before." Phoebe laughed, earning a nudge from Dean. The doctor looked at Phoebe with raised eyebrows, wanting to hear more about it, but Prue cut them off. She knew how to keep it from happening again; and hopefully Nicholas wouldn't be coming back to life a second time.

"All right," the doctor nodded, "I'll get your discharge papers."

As soon as the doctor started leaving, Prue climbed off the bed to put her shoes and jacket back on. Andy was right by her side, looking at her with eyes full of concern, "That was close."

"Too close." Prue glared at her youngest sister. Dean was frowning between the two Halliwells, clearly worried and annoyed all at the same time.

"I don't mean Phoebe. I mean you," Andy helped Prue into her jacket, "They said you almost died."

"What else is new?" Prue sighed, dejectedly, causing Dean to look at her full of concern again. She got defensive at the look, as she sat back down on the bed, "It's true, though, right? Sometimes do you ever think that it would be so much easier if we were normal?"

"Sometimes." Dean admitted with a sigh, a sad look in his eyes. Phoebe watched her sister and cousin carefully, before deciding to change the subject.

"Anyway, we need to find a way to vanquish Abraxas," Phoebe said, watching Prue as she grabbed her bag and started walking through the hospital. They would have to talk and walk, and just hope that nobody was listening to them, "I've been thinking. What if he isn't on our plane but on the Astral plane. The Book of Shadows is still in the house, but somewhere we can't get to right now."

"Is that even possible?" Andy asked, wrapping his arm around Prue as he steered her towards the desk so she could sign her discharge papers. He kept his eyes on Phoebe, who was nodded her head, "So, how do you get to someone who isn't on your plane?"

"We need a window or doorway," Phoebe explained, looking over to her cousin for help in this department, "But we would need to do it by the end of the equinox. That's sunrise tomorrow."

"What if we didn't stop him by sunrise tomorrow?" Prue now asked, narrowing her eyes as she followed everyone out of the hospital, "What would it mean for us?"

"We'd lose our powers and possibly our lives." Phoebe explained.

"So, we really need to figure this out."

* * *

Adam stepped out of Sam's car, grabbing his overnight bag from the backseat, "I can't believe I move out of here and I'm back overnight within a month."

"Well, at least it's only overnight," Sam chuckled, locking his car before they walked up the steps to their porch, "Just think what it was like for me having to move back in after the apartment burnt down."

"You ever think about moving back out?" Adam asked, glancing across as the new neighbors moving boxes from a van in the driveway.

"Maybe one day." Sam sighed, also glancing across. Dan looked over with a small smile and a wave, before getting on with the moving. The two brothers waved back, glancing at Jenny, who was clearly still upset about something; possibly about moving and her parents being so far away.

"I wonder how long it will take for them to move out," Adam chuckled, "Sure they'll love all the fights and loud bangs that go on in this house."

Sam couldn't help but laugh at the comment, as he opened the front door and walked back in with his brother. One thing Sam had noticed was the Impala and Prue's car back in the driveway, which meant they were now home from the hospital. Sam had just been relieved that Phoebe's premonition hadn't come completely true. The fear and doubt that Prue would remember the vanquishing spell from a few months ago had taken over, especially when they got a phone call to say that she was in the hospital.

As they walked back into the room, there were concerned faces all around. Piper was just hanging up the phone, a deflated sigh slipping past her lips. Tension hung in the room, as she turned to everyone, "Well, that was Rob the banker, or rather, his assistant. My loan has been denied."

"Oh honey," Phoebe looked at Piper sympathetically, "I'm so sorry."

"That's okay, just wasn't meant to be, I guess," Piper replied, trying to brush off the hurt that she was clearly feeling. The disappointment was all over her face, but she quickly tried to cover it up, "Really glad I never slept with him, though. What was I thinking?"

"About Leo, maybe?" Prue smirked, receiving a slap from Piper with the back of her hand. As the sisters chuckled, the three Winchester brothers just looked at each other. This was not a conversation any of them really wanted to get involved in.

Instead, the three brothers went up to the attic to work on getting their Book of Shadows back. While returning from the hospital, Dean and Phoebe had come up with a few ideas for getting the Book of Shadows back. Grabbing some chalk on the way up, Dean drew a large triquetra on the wall. His younger brothers just watched with raised eyebrows.

"You really think that will work? That's the window?" Adam asked, hearing all about how they needed to find a door or window to the astral plane within the house. The youngest Winchester had to admit that he was a little lost on the whole thing, but hadn't quite heard the full theory behind this. He just trusted his big brother enough to follow through with the plan right now.

"The triquetra is our connection," Dean explained, "C'mon, you've heard Grams say 'the Power of Three' right?"

Adam nodded his head, thinking about it carefully. It certainly made sense. The symbol was on their Book of Shadows.

"The symbol stands for the Power of Three." Piper said, as the three Halliwell sisters made their way into the room. It was something for the whole family to do. A power of six, almost. While the Book had mentioned something about the Power of One, the family wasn't going to take any chances. They would all be there to back Prue up as the strongest witch of their generation.

"Okay, so when the window opens, Prue knocks Abraxas back," Phoebe took control of the situation, walking over to where the Book of Shadows should have been. Laying her hands on the podium was strange, alien. She just wanted the Book back where it belonged, "We'll all reach in grab the Book. While you're holding him back..."

"You can find a spell to vanquish him." Prue nodded her head, ready for the plan.

"So, how do we open the portal?" Sam now asked, looking between his brother and cousin. They had clearly thought all this through. Phoebe moved to stand next to Dean, grabbing his hand as she spoke.

"We create a circle with the triquetra." The six witches held hands, Dean and Adam touching the triquetra from where they stood. A gust of wind blew around the attic, making them all look away from the bright light that formed on the wall with the triquetra. Within the light, the wall disappeared, and the pointy-eared demon reappeared. He looked over at them, the Book of Shadows in his hands.

"Prue, now!" Phoebe shouted at the top of her voice, waiting for her sister to use her powers on the demon. Just as Prue was about to squint her eyes, the demon got to her first. With a wave of his hand, he pushed Prue backwards. She felt like she'd been hit in the stomach, forced back by something unseen. The only things holding her in place were the hands of Sam and Dean.

"Prue!" Phoebe cried out again, but fear filled her eyes. Prue dropped to her knees, as the demon laughed.

"First the Book, then you." He warned, before Phoebe shouted at Dean or Adam to do something. The demon turned back to the book, reading a spell backwards. Sam now shouted at his brothers or even Piper to do something. Dean tried, but he was too busy trying to hold Prue up. Before anyone else had a chance, a demon they all recognized appeared in front of them.

Abraxas just laughed as the portal closed, and the wind died down. The six witches were left with Inspector Rodriguez, his eyes glowing bright yellow, "It's good to see you all again."

Rather than attack the witches, the Yellow Eyed Demon clicked his fingers and disappeared. All the six witches could do was look at each other, fear in their eyes. This was dangerous; way more dangerous than it had been up until this point.

* * *

Dean paced the floor of the living room. After the aftermath of the Yellow Eyed Demon returning, his nerves were shot. It was all too much. This thing—this monster—had already killed Adam once; he'd been the reason for John's death. Now he was back and they didn't know where. Unlike all the rest of the warlocks that had attacked, Yellow Eyes was smart. He'd disappeared to plan his attack before going ahead.

Piper nervously tapped her foot, sitting on the chair as she watched Dean. Fear ran through her at the idea of the Yellow Eyed Demon being back. It had only been three months since they'd vanquished him and here he was again. Dean had said not to bother putting the spell in the Book of Shadows, but they'd done it anyway. Sam had written it in there while Dean was away. If they hadn't, there wouldn't have been a way for Abraxas to bring him back.

"Dean, sit down." Prue commanded, walking into the room. Piper, Phoebe, Sam and Adam all looked up from where they sat, looking between the two eldest witches. When Dean didn't do as he was told, Prue stood in his way, forcing him to look at her. Her blue eyes were angry and cold; not at him but at the situation as a whole, "I said, sit down."

Dean glared at her at first, daring her to make him. Prue had always been good at staring competitions. She would always be the one who could force someone to do as they were told. As Phoebe had often pointed out, she was more of a mother to them than a sister.

With a shake of his head, Dean sighed and walked over to the chair that Piper sat in. Sitting on the arm, he leaned forward to run his hands through his hair, "We need to get him."

"We need to get Abraxas first," Prue explained. Dean was about to argue with her, but Prue wasn't going to let him get a word in, "Think about it. Abraxas can bring back all the demons we've fought. He can say the first spell in the Book."

"The one that gave us our powers?" Sam clarified, wondering whether he and Prue were on the same wavelength right now. When Prue nodded, a shiver ran down Sam's spine. The Yellow Eyed Demon was certainly a threat, but they needed their powers to take care of him. They needed the Power of Three, "If that happens, we'll no longer be witches."

Prue nodded again, looking between her sisters and cousins, "And I'm guessing we'll end up dead. Abraxas isn't going to stop with getting rid of our powers."

"We can't just let that yellow-eyed son of a bitch roam the streets." Dean argued with his cousin, only thinking of the one thing. He wouldn't admit it, but he knew he could be narrow-minded at times.

"We need our powers to vanquish him, though," Adam pointed out, "We need the Power of Three. If we don't get Abraxas..." He trailed off, but everyone knew what he meant. With a heavy sigh, Dean closed his eyes and leaned back uncomfortably on the chair arm.

"So, how do we manage it?"

"The Power of Three." Grams' voice filled the room, making all six cousins look around at the same time. It was the first time that all six of them had heard it together.

"Grams?" Sam questioned, looking over to Phoebe, Piper and Dean, knowing that they'd heard her earlier.

"The Power of Three." Grams repeated. For Phoebe it was getting repetitive, but she finally understood what her grandmother was trying to tell them. The Power of One had nothing to do with Prue at all.

"Oh, we're connected," Phoebe laughed at herself for not getting this in the first place, "We can all hear her so we're all connected. The Power of One wasn't about Prue. It was about us working together. Using the Power of Three."

Everyone looked at her, surprised. Piper shook her head, with a small laugh. Of course, the triquetra represented them working together. Represented the three sisters and the three brothers as they were meant to be; as one. Their individual powers working together.

Adam checked his watch, a concerned frown filling his features, "It's almost sunrise. This is the time to do it before we lose the power of the equinox."

"So, we get back to the attic..." Dean nodded, standing up but Prue stopped him again. Doing it in the attic would be too obvious. Abraxas would know they were coming for them and likely be able to overpower them. They needed to go to a place that would give them more power; the place they were most connected.

* * *

Dean and Prue drove their cars, speeding through the streets of San Francisco to get to Golden Gate Park. From there, Phoebe and Adam could lead the way to the stone altar; the one that had involved losing their shirts earlier. Adam had already decided that it wouldn't happen again. There was no way he was getting naked in front of his eldest cousin or his brothers.

What they hadn't realized was that at the same time Abraxas had reached the first ever spell in the Book of Shadows. He was about to take their powers away.

The cousins weren't about to let that happen. Joining hands, they said the only spell they could think of that would make them connect the most; the spell Phoebe had spoken a year ago on the day.

" _Hear now the words of the witches,_

 _The secrets we hid in the night,_

 _The oldest of Gods are invoked here,_

 _The great work of magic is sought..."_

As the reds and oranges of the sun rise filled Golden Gate Park, a cloud opened above the heads of the six witches. Suddenly, the Book of Shadows dropped as if from nowhere, through the cloud and onto the stone altar.

The witches looked at the Book with grins on their faces, but it wasn't over yet. They had a demon to take care of.

"Keep chanting." Dean told them, not letting go of Prue or Piper's hands.

" _In this night and in this hour,_

 _We call upon the ancient power."_

Within the cloud, the pointy-eared demon appeared, shocked at the unforeseen turn of events. He looked down at the witches from the astral plane, "What are you doing? How did you bring me here?"

The witches refused to answer him. Instead, they continued to chant.

" _Hear now the words of the witches,_

 _The secrets we hid in the night._

 _The oldest of Gods are invoked here,_

 _The great work of magic is sought._

 _In this night and in this hour,_

 _We call upon the ancient power."_

Abraxas started to cry out in agony, as the six witches continued to chant the final two lines of the spell. It was the strongest line, the one where they were most connected. Finally, Abraxas exploded, the window to the astral plane closing.

Protective of the book, Phoebe grabbed it and stroked it lovingly and gently, but she couldn't help but look at her sister and youngest cousin mischievously, "And we didn't even get naked."

* * *

Dean stared at the Book of Shadows as Phoebe put it back in its rightful place. The six witches were back in the attic, thinking carefully about the events of the morning. Their powers were nearly gone; their destiny as the Charmed Ones almost over. But they'd stopped it all, even if they hadn't stopped Abraxas bringing the Yellow Eyed Demon back. The aftermath wasn't over yet, but Dean made a silent vow to make sure that demon was killed sooner rather than later. His dad's death would not be in vain.

"That's better." Prue smiled, tracing her hand over the triquetra from where she stood on the other side of Phoebe. Piper couldn't help but glance over at the wall where the triquetra was drawn.

"I'll feel better when we erase that window. I don't want any more demons coming through it." Despite it being their window, Piper would feel safer if it was gone. The last thing she wanted to deal with was anymore demons like Abraxas. The other witches decided against pointing out that Abraxas came before the triquetra was drawn on the wall.

Piper walked over to the wall as Phoebe opened the Book of Shadows. All day yesterday she'd questioned the rest of the passage that she'd been reading. What came after the line about the Power of One? She chuckled to herself, "Or else a more powerful evil that awaits will destroy you."

"Sorry?" Sam asked with a frown, looking at the youngest of his three cousins.

"Rite of Passage. Fight it with the Power of One, or else a more powerful evil that awaits will destroy you." Phoebe explained, pointing down at the writing in the Book of Shadows.

"Wow, glad I didn't know that yesterday. I might have changed my mind about fighting Abraxas." Adam commented, passing a cloth to Piper so she could get rid of the chalk-drawn triquetra.

"You love being a witch far too much, Adam." Dean shook his head.

"Are you saying you don't?" Adam asked, eyebrows raised. At no point had Dean suggested that they not fight Abraxas. Shaking his head, Dean had to admit that their powers had been useful. He'd saved innocents because of his ability to freeze and they'd vanquished Yellow Eyes once because of the spell he'd written. Now they just had to do it again.

"It's just too bad being a witch doesn't pay the bills." Piper sighed, now having time to really think about the fact that she didn't get the business loan.

Dean glanced over to Prue with a small, questioning frown, "Did you get it?"

"Mm-hmm." Prue nodded her head with a small smile, before pulling out a white envelope from her purse.

"Get what?" Piper questioned, watching as Prue and Dean grinned while she glanced at the contents of the envelope. All the other witches could see was two rectangular pieces of paper, their smiles missed by Piper.

"What's this?" Piper asked, looking at the two pieces of paper, "Where did you get...these add up to $60,000. How?"

"One is mine, some of the money I'd saved up for college," Sam explained, "Dean and Prue wouldn't let me use all of it."

"The other is a home equity loan," Dean explained, "Prue and I took a second out on the house to help you buy your club."

"We knew all about it." Phoebe grinned, dancing on the spot at their ability to keep all this a surprise. Phoebe had wanted to tell Piper the plan, but the others wanted it to be a secret in case the loan was denied.

"Well, our club, technically. All of ours."

"That's as long as you don't mind being partners with your sisters and cousins." Sam smirked, seeing the glee on Piper's face.

Piper looked at everyone, shocked and surprised at their decision. She had been ready to give up on her dream, or at least ready to put it back on hold. The fact that her cousins and sister would do this for her—and without even asking her if she wanted to do it—made her feel special and on top of the world. In fact, it was a happiness and love that she couldn't quite explain.

"Thank you!" She exclaimed, looking between everyone. She hugged her sisters and cousins tightly, never knowing how she was going to repay them for this.

"The Power of Three." Grams' voice spoke to them again, this time with the pages in the open Book of Shadows turning. Before they knew it, a ghostly figure appeared by the Book of Shadows, looking at it lovingly.

"Grams?" Prue blinked, shocked to see her deceased grandmother standing there. She looked just like she did when she was alive, in a beautiful, flowing white dress and her hair perfect. There were no hints of the strain and tension that had been caused over the years.

Grams looked up at her grandchildren, her hands going to her chest, "Oh, hello my darlings. It's so nice to see you, or rather it's nice being seen by you."

Dean shook his head, his blood running cold, "But...but...this...how is this..."

Grams smiled softly at him, stepping forward so she could be next to him. Her hand went up to his face, even though he would never feel anything from her. The fear in his eyes told her everything, and his trembling body told his brothers and cousins just how emotional he was feeling, "I know this will be hard, but I'm not here to hurt anybody. I'm not a spirit you need to vanquish. I really wish your father hadn't allowed you to hunt with him. I never wanted that for you and neither did your mother."

"Where is mom?" Sam asked, hope in his eyes that she and maybe even Aunt Patty would show up.

"She's with me, same with Patty. We're in the afterlife, always watching you," Grams explained, looking at each of her grandchildren in turn, "We are all so proud of you."

"Wait, how is this possible?" Adam asked, frowning as his grandmother moved her hand away from Dean's cheek and moved back to the Book of Shadows.

"All things are possible, my dear. It's just simply a matter of your being able to do them."

It was then that they all realized that the Book of Shadows never turned its pages on its own. Grams was the one doing it, looking out for her Charmed grandchildren the best way she could, "Don't try to understand this, you're not ready yet. But the fact that you could hear me before, can see me now, means that someday you might be."

Stepping to the middle of her six grandchildren, she smiled at each one of them in turn. Her heart ached for everything they had been through and everything she knew they would go through in the future. The life as a Halliwell—or a Winchester since they were clearly never going to change their name—was never easy.

"Be good to each other." She told them and disappeared telling them how much she loved them. While she disappeared, the pages of the Book turned on their own.

"Is it just me, or is this attic getting awfully crowded lately?" Piper asked, making her sisters and cousins chuckle as they walked over to the Book of Shadows. It was left on a previously blank page, now with just one beautifully handwritten sentence on it.

 _Happy Anniversary, My Darlings_

 **Guest Cast List:**

Greg Vaughan as Dan Gordon

Karis Paige Bryant as Jenny Gordon

Jennifer Rhodes as Penny Halliwell

Danielle Harris as Aviva

Janet Wood as Mrs. Milton

Walter Phelan as Abraxas

Andrew Jackson as Nicholas

Eric Scott Woods as Jeremy Burns

Carlos Gomez as Inspector Rodriguez/Yellow Eyed Demon

Amanda Wyss as Stevie

* * *

 **So, what did you think of the episode? I'd love to hear your thoughts. It was one that I stuck mostly to the Charmed episode, but I've added a few hints for things to come in the future...like the Yellow Eyed Demon coming back! Did you see that one coming?  
**

 **Next week's episode is a mixture of Provenance and A Painted World and I look forward to sharing it with you.**


	6. Episode 6: Painting Is Just Another Way

**I'm sorry for the delay! I was ill last week and this is the first day that I've felt well enough to look at a computer screen. I also want to apologize because the next episode won't come this Friday. I'm behind on the writing now and don't have enough written to be able to stick to a weekly scheduling. I had hoped to have been further along by now. I'm going to give it a week before posting episode 7, so it will come a week on Friday instead. Hopefully, I'll be a little further ahead in the writing so there isn't a massive gap while I figure out how to write an episode :)**

 **Thank you for all the support with this series. I've not been able to thank people personally this time with being so ill, but your reviews made me want to get back to the computer as soon as I could. I love hearing what you think of the episodes and where you would like to see the series go. The episodes may not work out in the exact way you hope, but that happens with regular TV shows, right? The difference is if there's a huge consensus for something, I can make changes much easier than TV show writers :)**

 **Well, here's the next episode, the mixture between A Painted World and Provenance.**

Episode 6: Painting Is Just Another Way of Keeping a Prisoner

Prue sat at her desk, looking through her calendar. Andy had asked one thing of her; to find a date that would suit them both for their wedding. It wasn't that Prue didn't want to get married, but she had to question whether this was the right time. The future hadn't been hopeful for the two of them together, and they still had demons after them. Last week with Abraxas had been the scariest, especially with the Yellow Eyed Demon back on the loose. So far, he hadn't tried attacking them but she didn't hold out hope that he wouldn't bother. He'd get his plan together and find a way that would ensure his win over theirs.

While Prue worried about Yellow Eyes, she also worried about her Winchester cousins. Dean and Sam had become more protective of Adam than they'd ever been; to the point where Dean had suggested they go on stag outside his dorm room to make sure he was safe. Sam had talked Dean out of that one, but he'd still made sure Adam had all the entrances protected through salt and devil's traps. Nothing was allowed in or out that wasn't human.

Prue's sisters had tried to act like everything was normal. They had to while the Winchester brothers were dealing with their crazy antics. Piper had her club opening to deal with and Phoebe was still looking for a job. She still felt guilty for not contributing to the house financially, especially when Piper's club wasn't making money yet. They were down to a two-income household.

A knock at the door interrupted Prue from her thoughts, making her look up from the online calendar.

"Sarah, how are you?" Prue asked with a smile as the petite, brown-haired woman walked into the office, a painting in hand. Sarah had joined Bucklands three weeks ago, and was slowly finding her way around the place. She'd often stop in to ask Prue for her advice or for help in the workplace, everything being so different from the small art gallery she'd helped her father run.

"I'm…well…I'm a little…I don't know how to explain it." Sarah admitted before holding up the painting in her hand. Prue's eyes instantly grew wide, surprised at the item in the young girl's hand. Prue instantly saw what Sarah was trying to explained.

The painting had to be a century old, if not a little older, just based on the first glance. It was clearly a family portrait of a man, his wife and three children. The man was looking over at the only girl in the painting, a stern look on his drawn face. He clearly wasn't interested in her messing around while this painting was done.

Prue took the painting, placing it on an easel, while she glanced at the rest of it. The two boys looked bored, like they'd been forced to stand there for hours while the artist got to work. The mother, well, she was like a typical Victorian mother, her hair perfect and cream dress flawless. It was the little girl that made Prue lock her eyes on the photo. Maybe the man looking down on her helped with that, but the girl had this look in her eyes that told Prue she was up to more than mischief.

"Where did you get this?"

"It was in my office," Sarah explained, walking next to Prue, "Doesn't the little girl just give you the creeps?"

"I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that," Prue laughed, "So, you don't know who brought it in?"

"Not a clue," Sarah sighed, "And this one I don't even know where to start. I mean it's painted with oil on canvas, pure color straight from the tube and then varnished each layer over and…this seems a little odd to me, even for the creepy setting."

Prue chuckled at the comment, nodding her head, "Okay, I'll get some x-rays on it. It will give us an idea of the physical condition and authenticity, and we can go from there."

Sarah nodded her head, with a small smile, "Thanks, Prue."

Just as she was about to take it, Prue stopped her, "It's okay. I'll take care of this for you. Claire is less likely to do anything to me if something a little questionable comes up from it since you don't know who left it in your office."

 _And I want to take a better look at this,_ Prue thought to herself. Something seemed off to her. It wasn't like someone would leave something like this lying around in an office. She just couldn't shake an uneasy feeling.

"You get home, Sarah," Prue smiled, "No point in both of us being here late."

With a nod, the brunette smiled and left the office, making Prue realize that without wanting to she was becoming the Prue of the future; the one she had wanted to get well away from after that visit.

* * *

Dean grinned at the woman in the bar, noting down the digits of her phone number. Not that he'd need them later, but he had to make it look like he was the man he was pretending to be right now. He and Sam were in San Diego for one more night, after finding out that they'd missed Yellow Eyes. They needed to get back to San Francisco, but the room was already paid for and Dean wanted something to take his mind off the idea of missing the demon.

It wasn't like Dean and Sam could do much on their own. They needed the Power of Three with the colt, but that didn't stop either of them wanting to make him pay for everything he'd done to his family.

But for now, he'd decided not to dwell on it. He was going to have a night where he could forget about magic, demons and everything else that came with both, "So, is that Brandy with a 'y' or an 'i'?"

Glancing over at his brother, he saw Sam on the phone motioning for Dean to join him. Holding up two fingers, he made it clear that he would be a while, but Sam was insistent. The bitch face that he pulled made it clear that he was needed right now, and Dean always found it hard to say no to that damned face.

"I'll be two minutes, ladies." Dean charmed, before walking over to his brother.

"Yeah, he's here now, Phoebs, and you owe him. I think he was about to pull."

"Of course I was," Dean frowned, taking the phone from his brother, "What's up, munchkin?"

"Promise me you'll help me and you won't tell Prue," Phoebe said, before even thinking about explaining why she was calling. Dean rolled his eyes with an inward groan, "Please?"

"What did you do, Phoebs?"

"Please, promise me, Dean."

"I'm not sure if this is a good idea, but okay. I promise." Dean frowned, feeling the dread inside him as he realized he shouldn't have said yes.

"It was an accident, I swear," Phoebe rattled off without really explaining what had happened, "I borrowed Prue's car, but not so I could drive it into a pole. I…well…"

"You crashed Prue's car?" Dean exclaimed, looking at his brother. Sam's eyes went wide, as he realized the trouble that the youngest of his three cousins was about to get herself into, "What the hell? How bad's the damage?"

"Not bad but it might be expensive," Phoebe sighed, "Please tell me you can fix it before she realizes?"

"Not for free," Dean sighed, "I'm not in the best of graces with my boss as it is and I really need the job until Piper's club kicks off and you find a job of your own, at least."

"I know, I know, and I'll be able to pay you for it," Phoebe pleaded, "It's just…I don't want Prue to find out because she's been so supportive. I don't wanna lose her trust again. I'll pay for it all."

"With what money?" Dean now asked, she didn't have the money for something like that. He hadn't seen the damage, but she would know if something looked expensive to fix. And with Prue's BMW it probably would be an expensive fix.

"I'll get it," Phoebe explained, "And then I'll tell her. I'm at this company called Web San Francisco. It's an interactive network on the internet. I faxed 'em my resume this morning and they wanna meet with me. So, please, just don't tell Prue yet and please tell me you'll help me fix it."

With a heavy sigh, Dean nodded his head, "Okay, okay. I'll do it. Good luck with your job interview."

Hanging up the phone, Dean handed it to his brother with a shake of the head. It was like Sam could read his mind, as he chuckled at the situation, "Crashed car?"

"She's a menace," Dean laughed, "And she wonders why she's not allowed to drive my baby."

"So, you going off with two of 'em tonight." Sam motioned over to the two girls at the bar. Dean looked behind him to see them wave and then looked back.

"You could get one of 'em, if you wanted," Dean shrugged his shoulders, "I've not seen or heard you with anyone since Jess…"

Sam shrugged his shoulders, quickly going on the defensive about his decision not to look at a woman. Dean sighed sympathetically, "You can't hold out for her. She's dead and ain't coming back."

"Don't you think I know that, Dean?" Sam asked, fire in his hazel eyes at the direction of the conversation, "I thought it was all over after vanquishing Yellow Eyes and now he's back. He's back and Jess is still dead."

Dean wanted to say something to comfort his brother, but there was nothing to say. He didn't know how Sam felt, and all he could do was try to listen; try to be there.

"Anyway, go over and be your army ranger or rock star; whatever you are right now."

"Reality TV scouts, looking for people with special skills," Dean grinned, proud of himself for coming up with the idea, "I mean, hey, it's not that far off, right? So, you sure you don't want in?"

Sam rolled his eyes, making Dean grin wider. He was going to get two easily tonight. Making his way back to the bar, Dean threw the two women a cocky grin and seductive wink, "Ladies, did you miss me?"

"Well, yeah." One of the girls, Brandy Dean thought her name was, nodded. He couldn't help but grin, as he threw off some line about talking to his producer and it looking like their place on the reality TV show was a go. That meant they were drawn in, interested in everything and anything Dean had to say and wanted to do.

All Sam could do was roll his eyes. When was his brother ever going to settle down?

* * *

Phoebe, meanwhile, was getting into the elevator, a little easier now that she'd been able to convince Dean to help her. He would know how Prue would react to finding out her car was dented, but he'd at least be able to do something about it. Now all she had to do was get this job, and getting that email asking her to come in for an interview just hours after faxing over her resume had really boosted her confidence.

Pressing the button for the 5th floor, Phoebe watched the doors closed. She brushed her hands over the suit jacket, feeling the sweat after the traumatic 10 minutes. Between her normal job interview nerves and the fear of her cousin and sister going ballistic over the car, Phoebe realized that she was shaking a lot more than normal. It could all stop now, but no matter how much she told her body, it wasn't working.

Taking a deep breath, the door pinged to tell her she'd gotten to the floor for the job interview. Phoebe put on her best confident smile, and walked up to the dark skinned secretary behind the desk.

"Hello, I'm Phoebe Halliwell. I have an appointment."

The secretary didn't even look up from her computer. She just handed Phoebe a clip board, going back to her work. Phoebe looked around for somewhere to sit to fill in the form, guessing that it was just asking for some details. Her heart dropped to her stomach when she saw the group of men and woman in a large waiting room, all in suits and all filling out something on a clip board.

"All these people, they're here for the interview too, aren't they?"

"Well, you won't have any trouble with this if you figured that out," the secretary finally looked up, a sarcastic tone to her voice, matching her smarmy look, "It's an aptitude test. You can finish it at home."

Phoebe quickly felt out of place as she sat between two people, glancing over at their tests as she nervously tried to get comfortable. She should have known it had all been way too good to be true.

"So, you won a fellowship from the National Science Foundation?" A man asked, making Phoebe look up. He wore an expensive black suit, his hair gelled back perfectly. He realized that he was talking to a relatively short Korean woman, in a matching black expensive looking suit. Her long black hair sat sleek and straight, perfectly over her shoulders and down her back.

"What I was at Harvard, yeah," the woman replied, "How'd you know?"

"I saw it on your resume. I was cum laude, also," the man replied, earning a small nod from the Korean woman, "Except I was a Ford Foundation scholar."

Phoebe swallowed hard as they talked Ivy League colleges and scholarship programs. Even the secretary joined in with the news that she'd gone to Stanford, too. Sam would fit in here perfectly after going to the Ivy League college. And here Phoebe had no college education at all.

"Intimidating, isn't it?" A man next to Phoebe asked her. She looked up, seeing a handsome man in his early 20s sitting with a clipboard in his hand. His blonde hair shaped around his forehead in perfect bangs, and his blue suit looked like something out of a designer store.

Phoebe was feeling more and more out of place, "The Good Will Huntings or this aptitude test?"

"Oh, who cares about linear algebra or differential? And that test is a snap," the man laughed, "I mean in this day and age, who can't write in the HTML and numeric languages, right?"

Phoebe chuckled, more nervous that she had ever been in her life. The idea of crashing Prue's car was nothing when put up against these people who were clearly far smarter than she could ever be. Nodding her head, she handed her clipboard to the man next to her and then walked back to the elevator. This was a seriously bad idea.

* * *

Prue sat at her desk, waiting as patiently as possible for the results from the x-rays. The portrait sat back on the easel in her office, as she tried to find anything about it in papers already on the work database. So far, she was coming up with nothing, but it couldn't have just been placed in Sarah's office by nobody.

Movement caught her eye, making Prue glance to the portrait. Glancing at it all, she couldn't tell what had moved at first. Nothing was out of place. The three children were all at the front, the mother with her hands delicately placed on her lap. The father was…wait, that was the problem. The father was no longer looking at the girl. He was staring straight ahead in the portrait, looking at whoever it was making the masterpiece, his face stern and a darkness in his eyes.

There was something extremely wrong with that portrait, and Prue had to work out what it was.

Piper sought through the paperwork, not really paying much attention to anything that was going on around her. Prue was there, talking about something but Piper hadn't listened to a word she was saying. Right now, Piper was panicking. She'd wanted to open the club as soon as possible, but now it was looking like an impossible dream and there was nothing she could do about it.

"The man in the painting moved. One minute he was looking at the girl and the next he wasn't," Prue said, while she grabbed her morning coffee, her back turned to her sister, "I just…I don't know what to make of it. Do you think someone could be trapped in that painting?"

Prue turned when she didn't get an answer, seeing Piper looking at another piece of paperwork in her hands, "Piper?"

"What?" Piper looked up, putting the paperwork down. There was an obvious annoyance in her voice and on her face, making it clear that Prue was interrupting something.

"We were talking?"

"About your main in the portrait, I know," Piper nodded, "But listen to this. 'Hallway near club entrance too narrow.'"

Prue rolled her eyes, as Piper obsessed over the club violations. In Piper's defense, there had been a lot but there were plenty of things that Dean could—and had already said he would—help out with. Some of them, like the plumbing and electrical, weren't exactly overnight fixes or easy ones to deal with, but they could handle it all.

"Stop obsessing, Piper."

"That runs in the family." Adam said, walking into the kitchen from the back door, just as Phoebe walked in from the dining room with the Book of Shadows in her hands.

"Well, there is nothing about people trapped in paintings." Phoebe sighed, placing the Book on the kitchen table on top of some of Piper's paperwork. The middle sister growled, motioning her hands for Phoebe to pick the Book up. Once she did, Piper could collect the paperwork, allowing Phoebe to put the Book of Shadows back down.

"You were asleep when I got home last night," Piper now looked up from her paperwork, "How did your interview go?"

"It's an ongoing one," Phoebe smiled nervously, realizing that she was going to have to tell someone the truth. She'd spent the morning getting Prue's car to Trick's garage, trying to avoid the conversation about the accident last night. After that, it was research time, just to avoid Prue and Piper, "I have to finish this aptitude test, which I actually think I will start right now. I will see you guys later."

As Phoebe started to leave, Prue just had to ask for her car keys back. She realized then that she was going to have to own up and just take the lecture, "They'd be with your car…which is at Trick's having an estimate once Dean gets back."

"An estimate?"

"I, uh, I bumped…no, actually I backed your car into a pole last night," Phoebe admitted, deciding that it was time to take responsibility for her stupid actions. Adam and Piper both looked at her with wide eyes, as Prue's mouth dropped open, "You don't have to say it, okay. I know everything you're thinking. How could I be so irresponsible? How could I be so stupid?"

"Whoa! Irresponsible, yes," Prue agreed with a frown formed, "But stupid, no way. Where's that coming from? I'd never say you were stupid, Phoebe."

"It's coming from the fact that I'm the youngest sister, the one who always makes mistakes," Phoebe admitted, just as Sam and Dean walked into the house through the back door. They instantly stopped discussing whatever they were to pay attention to Phoebe's rant, "I'm the one that causes the problems and if anyone is gonna back your car into a pole and not tell you right away, it'd be me, right?"

"I think I'll just be going now." Piper started to stand up, as the three Winchesters agreed to leave.

"See, even the ones who are supposed to stay neutral when it comes to family problems check out on this one," Phoebe sighed, "I mean I probably can't even get a job because I was too stupid to get into college."

"Hey! College isn't everything!" Dean pointed out, but soon shut his mouth.

"Phoebe, I don't wanna get into a fight with you about this," Prue shook her head, looking over at her sister and two cousins, "Can I borrow a car from either of you."

"Sam, how about you drop me off at work and Prue can borrow the Impala," Dean suggested, looking over at his brother. The mouths of everyone dropped at the idea of Dean letting someone else drive his car without him being there. When Sam got over the shock enough to nod, Dean threw his car keys to Prue, "Just get her back to me in one piece."

"I'll pay for the damages and the gas for Dean's car," Phoebe said, "I'll pay for it all."

With that, Phoebe walked out of the room, leaving the five witches to look between each other.

"What was all that about?" Adam asked, chuckling at the strange event he'd just witnessed. There was clearly something bothering Phoebe, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"I need to see Dan." Piper said, now standing and collecting all the paperwork.

"Piper, what about the man in the painting?"

"Man in the painting?" Sam asked with a frown, looking between the two Halliwell sisters and Adam. Adam shrugged his shoulders, looking between his cousins, too.

"Prue, we can't go looking for trouble. If he isn't screaming and asking for help, we need to leave it," she sighed, walking towards the door to the dining room, "I'm going next door."

Piper walked out of the house, leaving Prue to look at her cousins gobsmacked. This wasn't something she wanted to ignore.

"Why next door?"

"Club problems that Dan might be able to help with," Prue sighed, "Can any of you three help me with this? Ever heard of someone being trapped in a painting?"

* * *

Piper walked up the path to Dan's house, picking up his newspaper on the way up. Fixing her hair, she was just about to knock on the door when it opened in front of her. Dan stood there, shocked to see his new neighbor standing in front of him.

"Good morning." He chuckled, looking around her as if to see if there was someone else there. Out of all the people from next door, he hadn't really had the chance to talk to Piper.

"I'm sorry to bother you." She hugged onto the newspaper, nervous now that she was looking at her blonde-haired neighbor. His medium length hair curled around his face, making her just want to reach out and brush her fingers through it.

"You're not bothering me, unless you refuse to hand over my paper." He pointed out, making her chuckle. Realizing that she had a protective grasp on it, she quickly handed it out to him, giving him the opportunity to take it, "Do you wanna come in?"

"Actually, I just kinda stopped by for a quick favor," Piper explained, biting her bottom lip as she realized it was actually a very big favor, "My club received a visit from the DBI a couple of nights ago…"

"And you've got code violations." Dan nodded with a chuckle.

Piper held up her folder for Dan to take, "I have the War and Peace of code violations. Dean said he'd help but…well…he's a mechanic, not in construction."

"But Neighbor Dan is in construction," Dan chuckled again, not making it easy for Piper to get the answers she'd hoped from him, "Thought I could help?"

"I'd pay you something." Piper asked, hope filling her eyes.

Dan seemed to think about it for a minute, before finally nodding his head, "Maybe we could make a deal. I'll check out the code violations and see how serious they really are, if you'll help me with a promise I made to Jenny."

"Deal," Piper nodded her head and then kicked herself, "Wait, what's the promise?"

"She needs help with a paper for bio," Dan explained and Piper instantly knew what he meant, "It's to do with the human reproductive system."

"You mean sex," Piper laughed, quickly understanding why Dan wouldn't want to discuss that with a 15-year-old girl, "Sure, I have plenty of experience."

"With sex?" Dan raised his eyebrows, not expecting that to come from Piper's mouth. She seemed too quiet and nervous to be too experience.

Realizing what she'd said, Piper laughed nervously and shook her head, "Erm no. That would be Dean…and…well…I just have experience talking about it. Two sisters and three cousins in the same house, makes it kinda necessary."

The two just smiled at each other, taking in everything that they'd just agreed to do.

* * *

By the time Prue got to the office, the painting was back to the way it was when she first saw it. The man was back to looking at the little girl. Nothing else had changed, just that one little point. Sam was currently standing next to Prue, his eyebrows raised.

"You're sure. The painting moved."

"I know what I saw, Sam," Prue glared at her cousin, "I mean, is it possible? A painting to be haunted by a ghost?"

"I'm the wrong Winchester to ask," Sam laughed, "You shoulda convinced Dean to take time off from the garage."

"He can't, and you know it," Prue sighed, "This is something for me—or maybe us—to figure out. Maybe it's a real man trapped inside."

Sam's eyebrows rose even higher, thinking of the idea of someone trapped in paintings. He knew there was some lore somewhere about photos and people be trapped inside, but paintings seemed a little too far-fetched.

"A fine example of American Primitive, wouldn't you say?" A voice from behind the two cousins said, making them both turn around. Sam's jaw dropped when he saw a woman in a smart, long black dress, her hair tied up in a bun. He'd never seen her before.

"Well, I'd say it's more Grant Wood than Grandma Moses," Sam shrugged his shoulders, "But you knew that. You just wanted to see if I did."

"Guilty," the girl smirked, looking over to Prue, "So, this must be Sam."

"Yeah, that's right," Prue nodded her head with a big grin, "There's no way Dean would have known what you were talking about and Adam…well, I doubt he'd have retorted with that."

"Sorry?" Sam looked between the two women, as the younger one held out her hand.

"I'm Sarah Blake," she replied, "I'm sort of new here and Prue has told me a lot about you. I think you're her favorite cousin. So, where did you learn about art?"

"I did an art history course at Stanford as one of my electives," Sam chuckled, "What about you? You don't seem like the type to work in auction houses."

"Family business," Sarah nodded, as the two of them ignored Prue's fake insulted scoff behind Sam, "My dad wanted me to learn all about it but I decided to come here rather than stay in New York. So, anything interesting about this piece?"

"Not sure yet," Sam turned back to the artwork, "Don't suppose you have the provenance, do you?"

"Don't I wish," Sarah smiled, looking up at Prue, "It would have made our jobs so much easier, huh?"

"Tell me about it," Prue rolled her blue eyes, "Say, you didn't see anything strange or freaky about this last night, did you? Maybe it looked like something had moved?"

Sarah just shook her head, pulling a face that clearly told Prue she had no idea what she was talking about. With a heavy sigh, Prue turned her attention back to the artwork. She knew she'd seen something. That man's head had definitely been looking out of the portrait when she went home last night.

* * *

Phoebe sat on her bed, the Book of Shadows in front of her. Everyone was out of the house now, at least that was what she thought. Adam was at college, Dean at work, Prue and Sam dealing with the portrait and Piper at Dan's working on the code violations. She had the time to work through the "aptitude test." That really meant she had time to work on a spell to make her smart enough to do the test.

Writing on a piece of paper, Phoebe read the words aloud, "Spirits send the word from all…"

A knock at the door interrupted her, making her frown. Of course, Piper had to come back from the neighbor's house and just wanted to talk to her. When would her family just learn to leave her alone?

"Piper, I just really, uh, wanna be alone right now."

"I won't stay long, promise."

Phoebe quickly hid the Book of Shadows under a blanket, before allowing her sister in the room. Piper walked in, a plate of cookies and glass of milk in her hand. Phoebe couldn't help but roll her eyes with a smile, this was Piper's way of trying to get someone to open up and talk about their feelings.

"Dean called about the car…" Piper said, but Phoebe had already heard the message. The damage was going to cost $1,200 to fix; money none of them really had right now but were going to have to find. How could one pole do so much damage?

The partial good news was that Phoebe didn't have to tell Prue. She'd already called Dean to find out how much the damage was going to be, and Dean being the cousin that he was told her the truth. It was something that Phoebe should have done to begin with. She should have just come right out and said it all, but that's something that smart people would do; not stupid people like Phoebe.

"Phoebe, I know you think getting this job is the answer to everything, but please don't do anything…"

"What, stupid?" Phoebe asked, knowing there was only one way to answer that question.

Piper looked at her sister, hurt in her brown eyes, "No. Just don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Once Piper left the room, Phoebe pulled the Book of Shadows back out from under the blanket and got back to writing the spell. There was something that none of her sisters or cousins would do. None of them would need to write a smart spell. Once she'd finished writing on the piece of paper, she folded it up and placed it against her forehead.

" _Spirits send the words from all across the land,_

 _Allow me to absorb them through the touch of either hand,_

 _For 24 hours, from now to 7,_

 _I will understand all meaning of the words from here to heaven."_

Phoebe was just about to put the piece of paper down, when she decided to add on a little extra, "Oh, and P.S. there will be no personal gain." Of course that had to be added.

Now it was just time to test out the spell. Picking up the dictionary that she'd placed by her just for this test, she held it in her hands and flipped the pages over her head. Suddenly, her brain was filled with every single word from the dictionary, from A to Z. With a large grin, she realized that the smart spell had worked.

* * *

Sam had left Prue to deal with the painting herself while he got to class. There was no way he could miss too much considering it was his second year. It would mean a lot when it came to applying for post-graduate jobs next year.

Prue didn't mind. It wasn't like there was much left for them to discuss. The man wasn't moving, and she was sure she was starting to go crazy.

"Hey, Prue," A man said, walking into the office with a large folder. She looked up from the painting with a soft smile, "Sorry it took so long but the queue at the x-ray machine was big."

"I'm in no rush, Joe," Prue smiled as she took the folder from him, "So, did it make the authenticity any clearer?"

"It did a lot more than that." Joe acknowledged, getting Prue to check out the x-rays. Raising her eyebrows, she looked at the underwriting on the canvas; something that she had never expected to find. The stranger thing was that it was text in Latin, something Prue had definitely never seen before.

Holding the x-ray up to the light, Prue frowned. The writing wasn't clear enough to read, so she carried it over to a stand with a backlight to take a closer look. The two Bucklands employees looked at the x-ray, mouthing the words.

Prue understood them as soon as she saw them, but had no idea why they were there.

 _Absolvo amitto amplus brevis,_ Prue frowned, "To free what is lost say these words."

"Wow, you speak Latin?" Joe asked, eyebrows raised as he looked at the woman. She just smiled, wishing him well making it clear that he could go home. He chuckled with a wave, before leaving the workaholic to her job. No matter how much she tried to stay away, she just couldn't. There was always something bringing her in.

Prue glanced at the creepy painting, just waiting for the man to turn his head again. Sighing when he didn't, she looked back at the x-ray and looked at the rest of the Latin, _Semper Mea_.

"Mine forever." Prue whispered to herself before looking back at the painting again. Now standing in front of it, she looked more closely at the people within the painting. It was like someone in there wanted to be freed, surely that was what the Latin writing was all about.

Prue couldn't hold it in much longer. The Latin had to mean that she needed to say it to free whatever it was, "Absolvo amitto amplus brevis. Semper mea."

Suddenly, she felt something drawing her forward, and not just a few steps. She was getting sucked into the painting; could feel it drawing her in and shrinking her in size to fit.

With a thump, she landed hard on the floor of the living room in the painting. The fire burned bright in the fireplace, conveniently hidden in the painting by the family standing there. There was nobody else with her. It was like the family had disappeared.

Suddenly filled with dread, Prue looked around at her Victorian surroundings, "Oh no!"

The size of the house surprised Prue the more she looked around it. Considering she'd been sucked into the painting—that she could tell from the late 1800s decor around the house—she expected just the one room and the family from the painting to be there. As she wandered around, she realized that there was so much more. There was a kitchen, a pantry, even a greenhouse connected to the house. It wasn't really a house but a mansion.

Walking down the hallway of the first floor, Prue looked at each of the portraits in turn. They were all of distinguished men and women, clearly pre-owners of the property. There were a few of children, but the majority were men and women dressed in smart, tailored suits and beautiful ball gowns, dating back to the 1400s.

As she made her way through the hallway, she finally found the staircase again. This place was like a maze, and she'd struggled to find the front door. At the bottom of the winding staircase, the large, heavy wood front door stood there just waiting for her to open it. Rushing over, she tried, but nothing happened.

Suddenly, there was a noise behind her. Prue looked behind, eyes peeled for anything that could come after her, "Who's there?"

Out of nowhere, a fireball appeared, aiming straight for her head. Prue screamed and ducked out of the way, allowing the fireball to hit the front door. When she looked at it, she realized that there was nothing on the door to indicate that it had been hit. But she doubted she would have ended up the same way.

"Quick! Follow me!" A man's voice called out to her, making her look back at the stairs. The man from the portrait, the one who had turned his head away from the little girl, was standing there motioning his arm for Prue to follow him. She didn't think twice before she rushed forward and joined him, running towards another room in the mansion. The walls were lined with bookcases, all of them covered in books. It was a library; something out of the old horror movies.

"You speak Latin, I see." The aging gentleman said, straightening his tie and jacket.

"Okay, what's happened? Where am I?"

"You're in the mansion." The man explained, pointing around as if she was asking the most ridiculous question in the world. Prue looked around and shook her head. It didn't quite answer the question, "You're inside the portrait."

"That's what I thought," Prue sighed, looking around at the library and taking a step forward. The man quickly grabbed her and pulled her back, "What…"

"Careful, we're not safe here."

"Not safe?"

The man shook his head, before pointing a bony finger over to the bookcase on the far wall, "We need to get to there or we're dead. I know you won't want to trust me, but my name is Isaiah Merchent and I'd hoped the person who found the Latin would be able to help me, not join me. But maybe we can help each other."

Prue nodded her head, before holding out her hand, "Prue Halliwell. I was supposed to help you. You were supposed to come out of the portrait."

"If only it worked like that Ms. Halliwell." The man chuckled, more to himself than to her. It did leave her feeling something off about the man, and made her question just how long he had been trapped inside this painting. The suit was tailored, but it was also ancient. He wasn't from her time or a period anywhere close to her own.

Right now, she couldn't focus on that. They had to find a way out and that meant getting to safety first. Isaiah and Prue rushed towards the bookcase, a fireball heading towards them. Turning on the spot, Prue waved her hand and made the fireball fly back towards the way it came.

"What was that? How did you do that?" The shock in Isaiah's dark eyes told Prue that he had never come across witches before. She wondered whether he would arrange to have her hanged for witchcraft if they were back in the real world, and suddenly the thought of the future came back to her.

"It doesn't matter about that, right now," Prue shook her head, "What did you wanna get over here for?"

Isaiah held up his index finger, as if he'd suddenly remembered what he'd been doing before the fireball, and then turned back to the bookcase. Prue watched him intently, while keeping her senses on any more flying fireballs, to check what he was going to do. He pulled on a red book, making the bookcase swing opened away from them. A dimly light passageway appeared with stone steps leading down to a basement. Prue just widened her blue eyes, watching as Isaiah pulled her through, "We'll be safe in here. Come."

Phoebe sat at the kitchen table, scouring over the newspaper. Since the spell the night before, she'd been able to take so much in. If only this was the real world. But the spell could only last 24 hours. After that, there would be some serious personal gain consequences. Anyway, she'd only have her sisters and cousins questioning her about her use of magic.

* * *

Speaking of cousins, Dean and Sam walked into the kitchen, "You should ask her out, Sammy."

"For the last time, Dean, I'm not asking her out," Sam sighed, "It's not like she'd be interested anyway. Not to mention the fact that Prue works with her and…well…"

"You even think about using Jess as an excuse and I'll throttle ya," Dean sighed, grabbing cups from the cupboard before pouring two cups of coffee, "You're still alive and you do get to move on at some point."

Sam sighed, taking one of the cups of coffee gratefully, before sitting at the kitchen table next to his cousin. Dean joined them, just as Piper walked into the kitchen.

"What's up, guys." Piper smiled at them, unconsciously mimicking Dean's actions just from a moment ago. Phoebe chuckled, as she rattled off a few items that were "up," including the British pound and the Atlas V currently up in space. The comment earned surprised looks from the three other witches in the room, causing her to hold up the paper with a smile, "Just read about them."

"Hey, have any of you seen Prue this morning?" Sam now asked, deciding that Phoebe's comment wasn't as strange as it initially sounded, "She was supposed to get me my car back last night but…"

"I thought she was borrowing Dean's." Phoebe frowned, looking between her cousins.

"Things changed yesterday and she borrowed Sam's," Dean waved her off, before turning back to his brother, "But no, not seen her. I thought she was staying at Andy's last night."

The sound of the doorbell caught all four witches' attentions, making them get up and check out who it was. As if he'd heard his ears burning, Dean opened the door to see Andy on the other side, a worried look on his face, "Please tell me Prue is here."

"We were just wondering where she was ourselves," Piper crossed her arms, "The cat hasn't been fed and Prue always does that on a morning."

"She was supposed to come to my apartment after work but never showed," Andy sighed, stepping into the house to allow Dean to close the door, "I thought she'd pulled another all-nighter, but when some girl answered her phone saying that she wasn't in the office I got worried. She's not returning my calls."

"Maybe she's still asleep." Phoebe shrugged her shoulders, offering a very logical explanation.

"She's not home, Phoebs," Sam shook his head, "My car isn't in the driveway. You know, maybe it is that painting after all."

"Painting?" Andy asked with a frown, while Piper and Dean chuckled. Of course Sam had to bring that up. He'd come home the night before talking about the artwork and the girl he'd met at Prue's office.

"Okay, let's go through all the options," Phoebe sighed, "Andy, you know that 63% of all adults believed to be missing show up within 24 hours, right?"

"Erm, right." Andy nodded his head, glancing at Dean for some answers as to how Phoebe had rattled off that statistic. Instead, the eldest Winchester just shrugged his shoulders and waited for Phoebe to continue.

"An auto accident is unlikely, 1.2%. Even less likely for work-related accidents," while she spoke, she held up her fingers, as if crossing things off from a mental checklist of all possibilities, "A life expectancy of 78.5 years, add her defensive powers of telekinesis, and we're looking at the odds of…less than 4.1%."

Dean was just about to say something, as Phoebe jumped back in, "No, actually, make that less than 3.3%. I forgot that the Book of Shadows had zip on evil artwork."

With an impressed but suspicious look, Dean glanced at the others in the room. Piper had kept her eyes on her sister the entire time, narrowing them as she spoke, "What's wrong with you? You're like Google."

"You haven't been in the Book of Shadows, have you?" Sam sighed, knowing that if anyone was likely to do something like that it would be the youngest of his three cousins.

"No, why would I do that?" Phoebe asked, an innocent look on her face. Dean instantly realized that she was lying and he was going to figure out what she'd done, but for now they had bigger problems. They needed to figure out what had happened to Prue.

"Okay, Sammy can go to Bucklands…" Dean handed out jobs, but was instantly challenged.

"Why me?"

"Well, Piper needs to meet Dan at the club." Phoebe held up her hand.

Dean couldn't help but chuckle as Piper's face went bright red. Despite the future they'd seen, neither of them were holding out expectations of them coming true. After all, they were currently on the path to stop Phoebe and Adam from hanging for witchcraft. Anything else could have changed.

"Dean, can you go in my place and get me the details later?"

"You know Phoebe would be better at giving you details of what he was wearing." Dean smirked, making everyone else but Piper chuckle at his comment. She glared at him and then walked back into the kitchen, deciding that she wasn't going to listen to it anymore.

"Okay, I'll see if Piper will take me to Bucklands to see if Prue is there," Sam sighed and then glanced at Andy, "And can…"

"I'll do my job and let you know if I hear anything." Andy nodded his head before leaving the Halliwell-Winchester Manor. It was time to find the eldest witch.

* * *

Prue sighed with a roll of her eyes, as Isaiah backed away from her. They'd made it down into the cellar of the house, full of old furniture, large wooden crates and strange looking jars. Isaiah searched around and grabbed a candlestick, holding it up as a weapon.

"Stay back, witch."

"Seriously?" Prue asked, "I'm a good witch. If I was evil, I wouldn't have just saved your ass up there."

"I hate witches." The man said again, making Prue roll her eyes once more as she folded her arms. This man was clearly stuck in the time that he came from, and it made her wonder how long he'd really been stuck in the portrait. Of course, other questions ran through her mind, such as how they were in the portrait anyway and how they were going to get a message to her sisters and cousins to get them out of it.

"I'm a good witch but say that to me again and I may hurt you," Prue growled, "I was trying to save you or whoever it was stuck in here. I didn't expect to get stuck myself."

"What about using those powers of yours to get out us."

Prue sighed; if only that would work. She couldn't just lift them out of an alternate world—a prison world, it seemed. It meant they needed to work together, and before they could do that Isaiah needed to put the candlestick down.

Looking at it, the man hesitantly placed it back on the table he'd taken it from and then nodded his head at her, "So, what do we do now?"

"Well, how did you get stuck here in the first place?" Prue asked, tilting her head, "And why do you hate witches so much?"

"It was because of a witch I'm in here," the man said with a labored sigh, "I'm not the only one here. There's a girl…"

"The girl in the portrait?"

When the man nodded, Prue sighed and rubbed her eyes. Now it made sense why he was looking down at the girl in the portrait. It was like he was trying to warn them about this girl. She just had to hope that her cousins and sisters would work that out and then find a way to save them.

"Who is the girl? And what does she want?" _And why were you trapped in here with her_ , Prue thought to herself but didn't want to ask it out loud yet.

Isaiah settled down to explain the full story to the woman he was now trapped with. It would be a long night.

* * *

Meanwhile, Dean was across town with Phoebe, talking to Dan about everything that they would need to do to get the club up to standard. Phoebe, still acting as strange as ever, insisted on wearing a hard hat and goggles to protect herself from any of the issues in the place. After all, she'd had no chance to look at the many violations.

"Dan, sorry we kept you waiting." Phoebe smiled, walking down the stairs to find Dan looking around the club. Dean followed behind her, as Dan checked his watch with a frown.

"I didn't realize you were late."

"Oh, 11 minutes, 23.4 seconds to be exact," Phoebe grinned, reaching the bottom of the stairs. Dan looked at Dean with raised eyebrows, almost as if asking some sort of silent question. Dean just rolled his green eyes and snorted. His wacky cousin always knew how to make people confused.

"So, Piper couldn't make it. Something came up with Prue, so you're stuck with the two of us right now," Dean explained, before Dan could even ask about the missing Piper Halliwell. He could tell when they'd walked in that Dan had been a little disappointed in Piper not being there. His face had dropped, and Dean couldn't help but smile. That was good news considering he was sure Piper liked Dan, too. It was about time Piper moved on from Leo.

"The two of us is better, anyway," Phoebe smiled, "Dean knows a little and I'm pretty knowledgeable about all areas of construction."

Dean narrowed his eyes at his youngest cousin. She knew nothing about construction, and if she did right now then something told him that she had been up to something magical. He was going to get to the bottom of it.

* * *

Prue hadn't been at Bucklands, and that worried Sam and Piper more than her being there working more overtime. All they'd found was the painting, with a strange set of x-rays. When Sam looked them over, he instantly saw the Latin underwriting on the portrait, but refused to read it out loud. The last thing he needed was to summon some sort of demon or creature to them, especially in Prue's work.

Sam needed to get the portrait home, but there were too many people in the office for them both to do it. With Piper's freezing power, they'd managed to get most of the way there, until Sarah showed up. Luckily, Sam had managed to distract her from seeing anything happening but it did lead to one awkward moment.

"So, where are you taking her to dinner?" Piper asked, as they walked into the Halliwell-Winchester Manor, the portrait and x-rays in hand.

"I'm not sure yet," Sam sighed, "I'm not even sure I should. I loved Jess so much and this…it just…"

"Feels like you're cheating on her?" Piper asked with a small smile, opening the door so Sam could get the portrait inside. He placed the large piece of artwork in the living room before nodding his head. That was exactly how it felt, as silly as it sounded, "You're allowed to move on, Sam. Surely Jess would want that."

"Dean keeps hinting at that," Sam laughed, "He tried to hook me up with some random girl in a bar in San Diego."

"Did you take him up on that?" Piper just laughed when Sam threw her a _what do you think_ look. Of course Sam hadn't taken his brother up on the offer of a random girl in a bar. That just wasn't Sam's style. He liked to do dinner. And it would be dinner with Sarah, tomorrow night.

The sound of the door opening and closing snapped them from their thoughts. Adam walked in, a frown on his face, "Okay, SOS? Why?"

"Prue's missing." Piper answered without batting an eyelid. She and Sam hadn't wanted to disturb Adam from college but this was necessary. It wasn't like Prue to just disappear, and they all knew that. Had it been Phoebe or even Dean they wouldn't have bothered to call Adam in so quickly.

Adam sighed and then glanced at the portrait on the other side of the living room. Screwing his nose up in disgust, he pointed at it, "That is one seriously creepy painting. Why'dya buy it?"

"We didn't," Sam chuckled, glancing back to remind himself just how creepy it was, "It was in Prue's office. We've gotta be quick at working this out before someone notices that the portrait is missing."

"We found these," Piper pulled the folder of x-rays from her purse so that Adam could see them. The youngest Winchester took hold and looked through, shrugging his shoulders as if they meant nothing. It was only when he got to the fourth x-ray that he noticed the Latin writing on the canvas. Glancing over at the portrait again, he frowned.

"Yeah, the Latin isn't written on the top," Sam knew just what his younger brother was looking at, "That's underneath the paint."

* * *

"Phoebe, you have done something. I know it!" Dean argued with his cousin as they walked into the house. The door slammed behind him and they joined their brothers and sister in the living room.

"Dean, will you drop it, please?" Phoebe asked, stopping in her tracks when she saw Piper, Sam and Adam there, "Okay, what's going on?"

"Prue's still missing," Piper sighed, "She wasn't at Bucklands and we think this portrait has something to do with it."

Piper made it very clear that they needed to do something now. They needed to find out where Prue was and what this portrait had to do with it. Of course, the Latin was something.

Phoebe grabbed the x-rays from Adam, looking through the Latin, "To free what is lost, say these words. Mine forever."

Everyone looked at Phoebe with a frown, with Dean glancing over her shoulder to look at the x-rays, "Since when do you speak Latin? You hated Latin."

"I…I learned it recently," Phoebe said, but Dean could instantly tell that she was lying. Her eyes drifted everywhere but at him. Folding his arms, he glared down at her, which wasn't hard with his 6' 1" frame to her 5' 4" one. She quickly shuffled her feet and looked down to the floor, "Okay, so I cast a spell."

"You what!" Sam was the one to shout at her for that, jumping in before Dean had a chance, "What could you possibly cast a spell for that would lead to you reading Latin?"

"And knowing all about construction," Dean sighed, "Oh and that thing about the shuttle this morning?"

"More importantly, Phoebe, why would you do it?" Piper kept her voice calm compared to her cousins, trying to work through the reasons for her sister to cast personal gain spells.

"I wanted to be able to get Prue's car fixed," Phoebe explained, hearing the sighs from everyone else in the room. She hadn't dared look up yet, though. She couldn't face the disappointment in their eyes, "This job was the only way to do it."

"Phoebe, I could have taken care of the car if you'da asked," Dean sighed, "I could have done it from home or something…"

Dean ran his hand through his hair, looking over at the portrait. Adam placed his hand on Phoebe's shoulder, "What's all this really about?"

"I needed that job," Phoebe looked at her youngest cousin, "All I had to do was ace the aptitude test, which by the way I'm sure I have."

"Phoebe." Piper shook her head, making Phoebe groan as she finally admitted to casting the smart spell. She quickly covered her tracks before anyone else could say anything else to her, making it clear that it was all temporary.

"You know we can't use magic for personal gain," Sam frowned, "It doesn't matter when the spell ends, it was still personal gain."

"But I put in the spell that it wasn't for personal gain." Phoebe told him, but she knew from the looks on everyone's faces that they didn't believe that was the case. There would be consequences. Finally, Phoebe folded her arms across her chest and frowned, almost like a toddler, "You know what, I don't care!"

"What!" Adam threw up his hands.

"You weren't in that job interview, Adam," Phoebe told him, passion in her voice, "Not like it would even matter for you. You'll eventually graduate college. Dean, you'd understand what it's like being surrounded by all these college graduates and just feel, well, inferior, right?"

"Inferior?" Dean shook his head with a frown, "I don't feel like that. Hell, I have two little brothers one with a college degree and one who is gonna get one and I'm proud of them. I don't feel inferior. I know crap they don't. Sam, Adam, could you build a car from scratch?"

"Not a chance." Sam shook his head, knowing that he definitely wouldn't even be able to give it an oil change. Adam shook his head, and Dean shrugged his shoulders with a confident smirk, as if it proved his point.

"Well, you may not care but I do," Phoebe ran her hand through her hair, almost in tears at the thought of this conversation, "Smart people are respected, taken seriously. And really smart women, forget about it!"

"So what?" Piper shrugged her shoulders, "So Sam and I have a four-year college degree and Adam is on his way to get one. Like Dean said, he knows so much without a degree. So do you. You have smarts I could never dream of having. And you could always go back to college if you really wanted."

Phoebe frowned at the thought of that. She'd tried college and it hadn't worked out. Within three months, she'd dropped out and decide to get into work.

"Say you did get this job, what woulda happened when your smart spell ended?" Dean now asked, with everyone waiting to hear her answer.

"I thought I'd worry about that later."

Phoebe handed the x-rays back to Adam and then started walking out of the room. Dean followed her with Sam to continue to discuss this, as Adam looked down at the Latin, "So this, absolvo amitto amplus brevis. Semper mea…"

"Adam, no!" Phoebe shouted out but it was too late. She could just watch as both her sister and cousin were sucked into the portrait, the x-rays dropping to the floor. Sam and Dean rejoined Phoebe just in time to see the x-rays hit the ground, looking at each other with shock on their faces.

"Well, I guess we know where Prue is." Sam sighed, but Dean wasn't in a joking mood. As Phoebe grabbed the x-rays quickly, Dean rushed to the portrait and got down on the floor to look at it carefully.

"We need to know more about this portrait. Now!"

* * *

Piper and Adam fell to the floor as they landed inside the Victorian house. A fireball flew through the air, causing Piper to scream as she flicked her wrists. The fireball stopped, just in front of her face, "What the hell!"

"Piper?" a familiar voice sounded, making Piper and Adam both look up. They saw Prue running toward her, a smile on her face that was both worry and relief, "Adam!"

"What the hell is happening?" Piper asked, as she got back up to her feet. Adam rushed up, looking behind Prue at the man from the portrait standing a ways back, watching out carefully for, presumably, any more fireballs.

"Come with me." Prue told them, not answering their questions. Before they could move, another fireball fired through the air. Isaiah shouted to warn them, making Adam look up and wave his arm. The fireball was redirected in the way that it had come.

"Quick, now!" The man shouted, beckoning for all three witches to follow them. However, just as they rushed towards the library, a young, blonde-haired girl appeared in front of them. Her icy blue eyes were full of evil, a razor blade in her hand.

She tilted her head to one side and smirked, "More of you. This will be fun."

"Run!" Isaiah shouted, pulling Prue and Piper away from the young girl, not even bothering to answer any of the questions the two sisters were now asking. They didn't have time if they wanted to keep their lives.

* * *

Dean leaned back in the dining chair, looking through the various reports online. Whoever had ever owned this painting had a history of turning up dead or going missing. He had to wonder just how many had been pulled into that painting in the past, and what could come out of it if something could get dragged into it.

Phoebe sighed audibly from the other side of the table, looking through the various bits of paper that were laid out on the table. Despite the smart spell—which Dean was still angry about—she couldn't find anything that could help them right now. The Book of Shadows wasn't that much help, either.

It didn't help that they had no idea what they were searching for, or what this had to do with this painting and the family within it.

"Hey, so get this," Sam said, walking into the dining room from the living room, "The provenance says that the portrait is of Isaiah Merchant's family. Painted 1910."

"Yeah? And?" Dean knew that. They'd already noticed that when first finding out more about the portrait. It was only then that Sam held out John's journal. The same name was written in there. Frowning, Dean looked at the names in his dad's journal and then all the names from the Internet that he'd found connected to the portrait. John Winchester had already come across this case and had found something suspicious about it.

"You think it's just that the portrait is haunted, somehow?"

"Well, usually I'd suggest just burning it and that's it done with, but Prue, Piper and Adam are trapped in there. We need to get them out first."

Sam and Dean sighed, feeling like they were back at square one. It was Phoebe who picked up on something when she picked up a clipping from an old newspaper.

"Merchant. You know the guy ganked his family back in 1912? Committed suicide afterwards." Phoebe passed Dean the newspaper clipping, so the two brothers could check it out. Frowning again, Dean put the piece down and started typing away at the laptop. Quickly pulling up a report, he grinned.

"So, there is more to the story," Dean said and then paused for Phoebe to join them, "Isaiah slit his kids' throats, then his wife, then himself. He was a barber by trade. Used a straight razor."

"Why?" Sam shook his head in disbelief.

"Apparently he controlled his family with an iron fist. Wife, two sons and an adopted daughter…Rumors spread that the wife was gonna take the kids and leave."

"In that day and age?" Phoebe questioned with raised eyebrows, "That wouldn't have gone down well. So that's why he killed them. Save the embarrassment?"

Dean ignored Phoebe's remarks, looking further into the reports that he found. Sighing, he rubbed his hand over his face, "If this Isaiah guy is haunting the painting, there's something connecting him to it. He was buried."

Scrolling further down, he went past a copy of the original portrait. Not noticing anything strange, he continued going but Phoebe and Sam stopped him. They both pointed at the same thing, "He's looking straight ahead."

"Uh oh." Dean nodded, raising his eyebrows. Sam rolled his eyes and pulled his brother towards the living room. Reluctantly, Dean stood and followed Sam to see the portrait. Within it, the man was looking down at the little girl, "Uh."

"Prue said he was looking at her last night," Sam informed both Phoebe and Dean, as if they'd both forgotten, "It looks like he is haunting it. He's trapped inside it."

Phoebe looked at the portrait more closely than ever before, and then gasped. How had she not spotted this in the past. Catching her cousins' attention, she pointed at a painting within the portrait. Three new figures were there, looking exactly like Prue, Piper and Adam.

"We need to know how to get them out of there."

Before any of them could do anything, the doorbell rang. The three cousins looked at each other, before Phoebe finally went to answer it. Opening the door, she saw Jenny on the other side, school bag in hand.

"Jenny, hi! What are you doing here?"

"My uncle said Piper would help me with my bio class project. It's on the human reproductive system."

"Human reproductive system?" Dean laughed, leaning on the door frame, "He thought Piper could help with that."

Sam hit his brother, while Phoebe rolled her eyes with a small smirk. Jenny just looked up at Dean with stars in her eyes. It was the first real chance she'd gotten to look and stare at the eldest Winchester, and he was as hot as she first remembered.

"Well, you could help me if you wanted." Jenny offered with a shrug of the shoulders. Dean raised his eyebrows, opening and closing his mouth like a goldfish.

"Whoa! No, no, no, no!" Dean shook his head, "I'm not the school type."

"It doesn't matter anyway, because I already know all about sex," Jenny shrugged her shoulders, looking to the floor and then back up at Phoebe, "I thought we could hang out."

"Oh sweetie, we can't at the moment," Phoebe smiled, trying to get rid of the girl at their door, "Piper's not here at the moment and the three of us have a lot of work to do."

Quickly closing the door on the 15-year-old, Phoebe turned back to face her cousins. Dean was bright red, while Sam laughed at him, "She wants you, man!"

"She's not legal," Dean shook his head, "Not a chance! Even I have limits."

Moving back towards the portrait, Dean had more important things on his mind. He needed to figure out what was going on with this portrait, Isaiah and how they'd been pulled into it. Looking around at different aspects of the portrait, Dean frowned, "If Isaiah's soul is trapped in there, that would make the Latin make sense, right? Freeing the soul in there."

"Of course!" Phoebe nodded, rushing over to the Book of Shadows, "You know, I found something in here earlier about trapped souls. I didn't realize that was what we were dealing with."

Flipping through the pages of the Book, Phoebe finally landed on the page about souls getting trapped within objects, "It's something that witches have done in the past. They wouldn't be able to kill their adversaries, like warlocks."

"So, Isaiah is really a warlock?"

"Maybe," Phoebe shrugged her shoulders, "There is something here about a witch named Nell. She trapped a warlock in a painting, with a hidden spell that only her power of x-ray vision could see. The legend goes that the warlock's human tyrant father was trapped in there, too, as a way to keep her occupied."

"What a bitch!" Dean laughed, looking over Phoebe's shoulder at the page in the Book of Shadows, "Hey, that page is all in Latin. How are you…smart spell?"

"Yeah, I knew it would be useful," Phoebe grinned, before looking down at the page again. There's a way to get them out. Free us all, um, verva omnes liberant, will get anyone trapped inside out."

"Okay, that means one of us has to go into the painting first," Sam sighed, looking over at it, "And that either needs to be me or you, Phoebs. There's no way Dean would remember Latin."

"Hey!" Dean frowned, pulling his attempt at a bitch face. It didn't work out, and just led to Sam rolling his eyes. They all knew that Sam was right.

* * *

Adam followed Isaiah and his cousins up the stairs of the house and into a room. Isaiah quickly locked the door and breathed out audibly, "We'll be safe in here for now."

"That girl," Adam frowned, "She was the one in the portrait, right?"

"My adopted daughter, Elizabeth, yes," Isaiah nodded, "She's…she's evil. Pure evil."

"Another witch?" Prue asked, narrowing her eyes at the man. Isaiah nodded slowly, looking between the three witches, "This is why you don't like witches."

"She…she killed my whole family. My boys first and then my wife," Isaiah explained, "My family wasn't the first. She'd killed her first adopted family, too. Nell, her first adopted mother, had survived but nobody would believe that Elizabeth was the murderer. Nobody could believe that it was this sweet innocent girl. I didn't believe it at first. Nell visited me the night before my wife and sons were killed. She tried to warn me, and told me I would need to kill her first. If only I listened. I should have listened. I wouldn't have been trapped here otherwise."

"How did you end up trapped here?" Piper asked, a sadness in her eyes as she saw the tears form in Isaiah's. Despite 103 years passing, the man missed his family. Being trapped in a portrait of his home would not help, especially with the girl responsible for it all.

"Nell," Isaiah sighed, "She is a witch, too. She said the only way she knew of to deal with Elizabeth was to trap her in a portrait. She didn't have the power to kill her. But she trapped me, too. I don't really know why."

"He knows exactly why," The young girl's voice called out behind the Charmed Ones. The three witches turned around to see the blonde-haired girl standing behind them, razor in her hand, "Now why don't you just give, "With him here, he can lure the innocent victims to me right in this room. You three are just as stupid as his other willing victims."

The three witches looked at each other before turning their attention to Isaiah. His face showed his betrayal, "I'm sorry. It's the only way I live in here with her."

* * *

"Are you sure about this?" Sam asked, looking at his brother with a frown, "Because I'm really not."

The three other Charmed witches stood in the Halliwell-Winchester living room, ready for Dean to get into the portrait so he could save his brother and cousins. Dean wouldn't let his brother or cousin do this, not knowing the danger on the other side of the portrait. When Sam put the lack of Latin argument out there, Dean told them to write the spell down and he could repeat it from there; or get Prue to repeat it from the paper.

There wasn't a reason for Sam or Phoebe to go in there. Besides, it's not like they could do anything on the other side without active powers.

"I have a feeling this will release everyone from the portrait once I'm in there," Dean told them, "So, be ready with a vanquishing spell or something."

Phoebe nodded with a grin. That wasn't going to be a problem. She already had one on her mind.

The little girl stepped forward, razor blade held high. The Charmed Ones could just huddle together, trying to come up with a plan. They didn't know how to vanquish a witch, not that they believed she was one. Real witches didn't use their powers for evil. They'd already learned that in the Book of Shadows. She had to be a warlock.

"Piper, freeze her!" Adam told his cousin.

"Witches don't freeze!" Piper shouted, but Adam encouraged her to try it anyway. There was a chance Elizabeth would freeze since she was clearly evil. Frowning, Piper flicked her wrists. Sure enough, the girl froze on the spot, razor blade held high. The three witches turned to face a frozen Isaiah.

"Leave him here," Prue said, pulling her sister and cousin out of the room, "We need to find a way to get a message to the others."

"How do you expect to do that?" Adam asked, rushing out of the room with his cousins. They ran down the stairs, dodging the fireballs that flew at them from their unknown spots on the walls. This was a cleverly designed prison world for the evil creature and her adopted father.

Without having to answer, Dean suddenly appeared, rolling on the floor to counter the fall from being sucked into the painting. In his hand was a shotgun, clearly prepared for anything that might be on the other side.

"Dean!" Piper smiled, rushing over to him and hugging him tight. For some reason, she felt safer with both him and Prue trapped in this world together. They would always work things out.

"It's okay, but we gotta get out fast," Dean said, "Phoebe thinks she's found a way to gank Isaiah."

"It's not just him," Adam shook his head, "The little girl, too. She's a warlock."

"Oh goodie," Elizabeth said from the top of the stairs. Isaiah stood behind her, a sad look in his eyes. It was clear that he hated betraying the people who accidentally ended up in here with him, but that was the way this world worked, "There's more of you. I can't wait to take your powers."

"You won't have the chance." Dean said, pulling the piece of paper from his pocket with the spell to get out of there written on it, "Verva omnes…" Dean started but the little girl screeched. The high-pitched scream caused the four witches to drop to their knees, covering their ears from the sound. The piece of paper in Dean's hand dropped to the floor.

"You're not leaving me!" The girl screamed at them, before waving her hand. Dean and Piper crashed into one of the walls, the shotgun now going flying across the room. The girl then waved the other arm, causing Adam and Prue to fly through a wall and into another room.

"Adam," Dean cried out, while wincing in pain from where he laid on the floor, "Prue!" There was no sound from either of them, making Dean worry. Rolling on his side, he looked around for the piece of paper that had the spell written on it. He needed it to get everyone out of this portrait. Once together with the Power of Three they could take care of the warlocks.

Elizabeth walked over to the piece of paper on the floor, picking it up. As she read it, she smirked, "This is the spell to get us out of here," it wasn't a question, making it clear that she already knew. Looking over at the eldest Winchester, she placed the piece of paper in the palm of her hand, burning it, "Now, let's see how you're going to get out of this mess."

Dean glared at the girl before raising his hands to flick his wrists. Elizabeth noticed what he was about to do and disappeared in the blink of an eye. Dean frowned, just as the girl appeared again on the spot. She giggled at him, a creepy, evil sound to the laugh, "Blinking is just one of the powers I've stolen from witches trapped here over the years. You four got here much earlier than we could have ever anticipated."

Out of the corner of his eye, Dean saw movement. Isaiah was reaching for the shotgun, placing his index finger to his lips when he noticed Dean looking his way. At first, Dean wanted to stop him but there was something in his eyes; something that told Dean to trust him. Remembering the story of being trapped with her tyrant father, Dean wondered whether the father was there to balance out the evil. He needed to keep Elizabeth talking, while Isaiah grabbed the gun.

"So, what? You trap them here, take their powers and kill them?" Dean asked, "How did you get some of the bodies back out."

"Not all of them were killed in here, silly," Elizabeth smirked, "I know the spell to get out. Once I kill you four, I'll use it to get out to kill the other two witches out there. Yes, I know you're the Charmed Ones."

"So, why stay here if you can get out?"

"Why not stay here?" Elizabeth asked, tilting her head to one side, "We never age. I'm safe from you witches."

"But you're not safe from me." Isaiah told the girl, shotgun in hand. Firing the gun, he stumbled back with the recoil. All Dean could do was watch as the warlock was hit with the salt round; not that it did much use, except distract her.

Dean rushed over to Piper, who was just stirring awake. Helping her up, he got them both over to Prue and Adam, both knocked out cold. Elizabeth screamed as she looked down at the damaged white dress, "You are supposed to help me!"

"I'm done helping you, Elizabeth." Isaiah said, holding up the shotgun again. She screamed before he could let off a round, causing him to drop the shotgun so he could cover his ears. As he fell to his knees, Elizabeth held out her hand and let a stream of fire hit Isaiah in the chest.

"Hey!" Dean shouted, catching Elizabeth's attention. She turned around to see the four witches standing again, together. Dean flicked his wrists, making Elizabeth freeze on the spot. Prue rushed over to Isaiah, checking to see if he was still alive. It didn't take long to realize that he was dead, glazed lifeless eyes staring at nothing in particular in front of him.

"Please tell me you know how to get out of here, Dean." Adam said, finally taking his eyes off Prue to look at his brother.

"Well, there's a spell but it's in Latin," Dean rubbed the back of his head, "Maybe it woulda been better for Sam or Phoebe to have come instead. I don't remember it."

"Do you remember what it said?" Prue asked, glancing at Elizabeth before joining her sister and cousins. They didn't have long before Elizabeth unfroze.

"Um, it was…it was Latin for set us free….no wait, free us all. That was it. Latin for free us all." Dean looked at Prue, hope filling his eyes as he realized that she may be able to work it out.

Suddenly, Elizabeth unfroze and she screamed at the top of her lungs. Piper flicked her wrists, the ear-piercing sound suddenly stopping, but it didn't stop the ringing in their ears.

"You know it, Prue?" Adam asked.

Prue nodded, grabbing Piper's and Adam's hands. Dean grabbed Piper's hand as Prue rattled off the Latin, "verva omnes liberant!"

* * *

Phoebe and Sam waited nervously in the living room. Maybe they'd been wrong letting Dean go in there alone. In fact, they knew they'd been wrong. This could have needed the Power of Three and without Phoebe in there, Prue and Piper didn't have the power. They weren't even sure if Sam could substitute it but they did know that Dean didn't stand a chance. He didn't have the power of premonition to give them the third necessary power.

"One of us shoulda gone, too," Phoebe sighed, rubbing her eyes, "What if something happens to that spell. That…" suddenly she realized that she couldn't even remember the Latin, "Damn it!"

"What?"

"The smart spell has finished," Phoebe sighed, glancing at her watch to see that it was after seven, "I can't remember the spell…"

Before she had to finish the sentence, a glow from the portrait appeared. The four witches stood in the middle of the glow, gripping their hands together. Dean looked around and then grinned at Prue, "You're awesome."

"I know," Prue smirked, "One day, you'll actually have to learn Latin properly."

Sam and Phoebe rushed over to the four witches, hugging them tight.

"Thank God you're okay!" Phoebe exclaimed, "I was so scared something had happened."

"We're okay, Phoebs." Piper hugged her little sister tightly.

"Yeah, thanks to your smart spell and Prue's knowledge of Latin." Dean smirked. Sam now glanced at the portrait to see that Isaiah was now looking straight forward.

"It was the girl, wasn't it?" Sam asked, deciding that Isaiah had to have died.

"So, what do we do with it now?" Adam asked, but just watched as Prue asked for Dean lighter. He frowned but handed it to her, frowning as he watched her walk over to the portrait.

"I still have no idea where this came from," Prue sighed, grabbing the portrait and taking it through the house to the back garden, "But I don't want anyone else getting pulled into this portrait. No-one else can die, especially not if that girl knows how to get out."

Once she was safely outside, she set fire to one of the corners and watched it burn. The witches swore they could hear a screaming sound coming from the portrait, as if the warlock was screaming trying to get out. At least it would be the end of it. Elizabeth was gone.

* * *

The day after burning the portrait, Piper found herself back in her new club with her neighbor. He'd gone through all the code violations and worked out just how much work really needed to be done. As he looked through the proposals, she panicked even more. Why hadn't she had the building inspection done before agreeing to buying the club? If she went with all these, it would cost her a quarter of a million dollars, at least.

"I gotta tell you, Dan, I'm not feeling real guilty about not helping Jenny with that paper." Piper told him, pushing the sheet of paper over to him. The neighbor laughed, as he pointed out that Phoebe had made all those suggestions. While they were good suggestions, they're weren't practical or necessary.

Piper sighed, laughing to herself. Of course they'd been Phoebe's suggestions. Of course she'd need to use that damn smart spell to do all this, "Can you fix it cheap and quick?"

"In a couple of days." Dan nodded his head with a smile, making Piper grin. That was just exactly what she needed. Handing the sheet of paper back to Dan, she walked over to her sisters and cousins, who were sitting in one of the small booths waiting for her to finish.

"You know, Phoebe, that smart spell sucked," Piper glared at her little sister, "A quarter of a million dollars? Seriously?"

"Well, at the time…" Phoebe sighed but just laughed, "There was one good thing about it, though."

"What was that?" Sam asked, looking over at her with a raised eyebrow.

"That there's lots of cool information out there," Phoebe explained, seeing smiles all around, "Maybe I'll go back to college, take some night classes. I'm a smart girl, I'll figure it out."

"Yes, you will," Prue hugged her sister, kissing the top of the head, "Just don't lose your common sense, okay?"

"And stop calling yourself stupid," Dean glared at her, "Just because we're degree-less doesn't mean we're not good enough or stupid. We have our own smarts. You'll figure out what yours are. And if you do decide to go to college, I won't hold it against you that I'll be the only one left in the family without a degree." He finished his speech off with a wink, letting Phoebe know that he was just having a laugh with her.

"So, I do need to get back to college so I don't fail my first year," Adam sighed, "Call me if you need me again."

With that, Adam left the club, leaving the five other witches to talk. They all sat together in a spot that was going to become theirs when the club officially opened. They'd already decided. This was going to be a great place to unwind after a long day.

"So," Prue looked at Sam with a smirk, "Sarah was interested in you."

"Sarah?" Sam asked with a frown, feeling Dean's eyes burning into him. He could almost sense the excitement coming from the elder Winchester.

"You should ask her out, you know, on a date." Prue smirked, clearly not asking it as a question. It wasn't a suggestion, either. This was a big hint. It was time for Sam to get back into the dating game.

 **Guest Cast List:**

Taylor Cole as Sarah Blake

Linden Banks as Isaiah Merchant

Jodelle Ferland as Elizabeth Merchant

Greg Vaughan as Dan Gordon

* * *

 **Well, this definitely wasn't an easy episode to write but I did enjoy it. I hope you enjoyed it too. Please R &R to let me know. **

**The next episode a week on Friday will be a rewrite of The Devil's Music. Yes I have to add it in to help the club grow and it means Leo returns...yay!**


	7. Episode 7: What's the Demonic Word?

**As I promised a week on Monday ago, I would be here with episode 7-a take on the Charmed episode, Devil's Music. It is very similar to the Charmed episode, but there's also the addition of the Supernatural episode No Exit.**

 **Thank you for the support and the feedback on the last chapter. I know it's been a longer wait than usual for this one. I'm getting there with the writing but overtime at work over the next three weeks will mean not as much writing as I want to get done. It does mean another two week break. I'm sorry.**

Episode 7: What's the Demonic Word?

Prue, Phoebe and Sam looked around at the quiet club. No, not quiet. It was officially dead. In fact, it couldn't have been more dead if one of them was embalmed. The three witches couldn't help but feel sorry and embarrassed for Piper. She'd tried so hard, and this was how the public was rewarding her.

At least the family was there to support them, and people connected to the family. Dean was over by the bar with Jo, talking about something. Their relationship had moved on from a plain friendship with stolen glances from each other to casual flirting. Dean had even bought drinks and food for the girl, showing that he was somewhat interested in her. The trip to the future had really changed him, and Sam wondered whether seeing that there was a little girl in the future helped with that. Dean just didn't know how to deal with the truth that something would happen between him and Jo at some point to lead to that baby.

Adam was on the other side of the club with his friends from college. They weren't drinking and had the big black X's on the back of their hands to make it clear that they were underage, but at least they were here.

The music was loud enough and fast enough to get people up on the dance floor, but the small number of people in the place remained in their seats. Even if there were more people, this place wouldn't get the best review online. People would complain about the lack of atmosphere and no live band. The great word of mouth would be the only way to get people coming in.

"You know, I think we're gonna have to take that offer." Prue sighed, taking a mouthful of her drink as she looked around the club. Sam frowned, knowing exactly what she was talking about. They needed a loan to help the club survive past the first three months. While Sam still had some of his college fund, none of his family was allowing him to use it.

"This guy isn't a loan shark or anything, is he?" Phoebe bit her bottom lip nervously. He wasn't, but that didn't make them feel any easier about taking the money. The guy had even offered a no-interest loan, but it still made them feel guilty; as if they didn't expect the club to do that well; that Piper couldn't turn it around.

Speaking of Piper, she was just walking over and they needed to stop discussing the financial situation. They'd all promised not to say anything until the club was running in the black.

"So, you guys," Piper grinned at them, as if she hadn't realized anything was wrong. In fact, she was happy with the way things were going. It was still early days, "You do like the name of the club, right? P3X2. A little nod to the Power of Three—all of us, partners."

"Yeah, it's very clever," Phoebe nodded nervously, as she played with her beer bottle, "Uh, Piper, it's a little, uh, quiet in here. Don't you think?"

Yes, Piper was definitely in denial. She couldn't help but say that things would pick up once word of mouth kicked in; once reviews on places like Yelp and Trip Advisor spread. The problem that she brought up was that these things couldn't be predicted. It was still early days for the club.

"Besides, the bank's not gonna call the loan. It's not like we're gonna lose the house." And with that, Piper left to get back to work.

"Who said anything about losing the house?" Sam asked, panic setting in, "We're not gonna lose the house, are we? I told you there's still more…"

"No, we'll take the offer if we need to," Prue shook her head, "You're not using any more of your college fund when you'll need it after law school. Piper will get the people in."

"Where are the people?" Phoebe asked again, glancing around the place. Even if people haven't spread the great news about this place yet, there had to be people somewhere coming in.

* * *

What they hadn't realized was across town all the people were piled into another club. It was the one that had the live music. None other than _Train_ playing live helped to bring the people in droves. One of the people there was Leo, surveying the scene as the band played. He knew there was something supernatural going on, but had to work out what.

In the back room of the club, manager Jeff had brought one of the female customers there, promising a chance to meet the band and get their autographs. He'd only been in the job for a few weeks, and it was because of him that the band had taken off again after being quiet for a while. It was all because of him that people came to see them in the droves they did.

Well, him and…it was best people didn't know that. It wasn't like they would believe him anyway.

"I can't believe you picked me." The girl grinned, looking around the backroom. The band was still on stage, but she hoped that there would be something here that proved to her she was going to meet them soon.

"Well, you seemed like a good…soul," Jeff smirked, "Plus, you said the magic words. You said you'd do anything, remember?"

The girl grinned, nodding her head quickly. She couldn't contain the excitement within her, jumping up and down like a high school girl just getting a date from her first crush. Jeff grabbed the girl's shoulders gently, sitting her down on the couch, before walking back to the door.

"Just wait here. The band will be down any minute."

"Thank you so much." The girl grinned, and then Jeff walked out of the room. He remained outside and waited for a few moments. Screaming started, drowned out by the sound of the music from the band. Within seconds, the screaming stopped and Jeff just sighed with a heavy heart. He was going to hell for this.

Walking into the room, Jeff looked up at a tall man in a long dark robe, "That's it. No more. I can't keep doing this."

"We have a pact," the man said, never once allowing Jeff to see his face, "You get what you want and I get what I want. If you didn't want to do this, you should have made a deal with my brother and his minions. But you just didn't want to lose your own soul."

* * *

Opening credits

* * *

Jeff was making his way through the radio studio, looking for the bathroom. He needed it quickly before he and Train went live on the air. The thoughts of last night had gone out of his mind after being reminded about everything that he had agreed to. No, he didn't want to lose his soul, but that meant doing it this way. That's the way it had to be for his success; and his success led to the success of a band.

Walking through the corridors, he accidentally bumped into Leo. Leo had followed him and the band here, knowing that there was something magical going on. He just couldn't tell whether it was the manager, the band or just something that had clung onto their success but girls were going missing and Leo was going to find out why.

The easiest way to do it was to get the man and the band to the sisters. Luckily, with Piper's knew club that was something he could easily do. Grabbing Jeff, Leo pushed him up against the wall and pulled out a handful of white glittery dust. For many it would look like fairy dust—and maybe it was where fairy dust came from—but it was something that would help Leo change Jeff's memories enough to protect innocents.

Blowing the dust into Jeff's face, Leo looked into his eyes, "You'll change the venue for tonight's gig. P3 Times 2 is the place Train needs to perform.

* * *

Dean walked into the Roadhouse, and looked around for the girl he wanted to see. The blonde-haired beauty stood behind the bar, serving a civilian-looking customer on the other side. Batting her eyelids, she flirted to get the man to give her an extra tip. Dean couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy, even though it didn't really make much sense. It wasn't like Jo was his girlfriend or anything. They were simply flirting. He still wasn't sure what to do with the information he took from the future.

Should he try dating Jo? Dean wasn't really one for long-term girlfriends. In fact, there was only one girl from his past that could be considered a real girlfriend; okay, two if a month-long fling counted. Dean Winchester didn't date. He was the hit it and leave it type of guy, but maybe moving back to San Francisco permanently was changing him.

"Hey, Deano," Jo grinned, making his skin shiver with the nickname. He hated it, but for some reason he could let Jo call him it. The way it rolled off her tongue made him smile, "What can I getcha?"

"Beer, please," Dean grinned, sitting at the bar while the civilian let to join his family. Dean could tell from the bills left on the bar top that Jo's flirting had definitely worked, "So, I thought there might be a case. Some poor kid has two monsters for parents."

"Really?" Jo looked up as she took the top off the beer bottle, placing it on the top of the bar. Her face was serious, a look of worry in her brown eyes.

"Yeah, the name was North West..." Dean took the beer bottle and then smirked over at Jo. Of course, it wasn't a real case and Jo quickly caught the joke. Rolling her eyes, she turned her back on Dean and grabbed a yellow folder. Of course, she had a case for him.

"I put this together," Jo said, placing the folder on the bar top. Dean put his beer bottle down and looked through the bits of paper, "I was hoping that..."

"You put this together?" Dean asked, looking up with raised eyebrows. The research was good; way better than he could ever manage. There were detailed reports of kidnappings and the victims. The landscape around the building, and the history of it was all there. This wasn't the first time that Jo had impressed him with her research skills, "It's really impressive, Jo. You're wanting to come with me, aren't ya?"

"Well, yeah," Jo nodded her head, "You're not saying that we didn't have a great time the last time on the road?"

"I didn't say that at all?" Dean shook his head, nerves starting to creep up inside him. He wasn't going to show that though, keeping his poker face in check. While he did have a great time with Jo, his feelings for her were getting too much to spend time together apart on a hunt. He knew he'd be more protective now than ever before.

Looking through the case, he didn't say a word. He wanted to know more, and that was when he realized that the victims all had the same color hair—Jo's color hair.

"This would be a bad idea," Dean shook his head, "You know you fit the description perfectly for the innocents."

"Well, maybe that would help narrow down on who the guy was," Jo shrugged her shoulders, "Look, six women have gone missing over the last 80 years. All from the same building and only ever decade or so. Police won't see the pattern but we will. I did."

Dean took a deep breath, looking back at the paperwork. Looking up at Jo would only mean he'd give in. While her puppy dog eyes weren't as good as Sam's, they were still good enough to get him to break his resolve. But as he kept staring, he could feel her eyes burning a hole into his head. She wasn't going to let this drop, and it wasn't like he could just stake her case.

With a sigh, Dean looked up, "Have you checked with your mom?"

"Dean, I'm 23 years old," Jo shook her head, "I don't need my mom's permission..."

"If you're coming with me, you do," Dean shrugged his shoulders, "I'm not getting on the wrong side of her."

Jo smirked, realizing that Dean was scared of her mom. With a single nod of her head, she folded her arms across her chest, "Okay, I'll talk to her."

"If she says yes, you can come." Dean nodded once, matching her smirk. Deep down, he did want Jo there, but part of him was also scared. What if something happened to her while they were on their hunt?

* * *

Piper looked through the accounts, fear running through her. After discussing things with her sisters and Sam last night, she felt the need to run through the financials for the club today. It was something she was going to leave until the end of the week, but Phoebe had been right last night. The place was dead. If it wasn't for Adam's college friends and Jo, her family would have really been the only customers in there; and she was sure some of them were only there to support her and not because they wanted to be there.

Now she realized that she was $20,000 in the red, and she had no idea how she was going to change that. It would take a miracle.

"You should keep that door locked, you know," a young voice called out from the stairs, making Piper jump. She hadn't heard anyone walk in. Looking up, she saw the brown-haired neighbor walking down the stairs, her school bag over her shoulder, "Anyone could walk in."

 _Anyone just did,_ Piper grumbled to herself, but had to keep a smile on her face for the girl, "Jenny, what are you doing here?"

"Am I breaking the law, right now?" Jenny asked, "Being underage and all?"

Piper knew the basics. At 18, she could allow customers in but they would have to have a black cross on their hands. Adam and his friends were allowed in for that reason, but Jenny wasn't 18 yet. From what she remembered Dan saying, she was 15—maybe almost 16. The only good thing was that the club wasn't open at the moment, so that could mean she could be around.

"What's your point, Jenny?"

"If you were open for business and I was here, would you have me arrested?" Jenny asked, and then quickly went on a bit of a tale about how they were friends, but not quite friends, and she was looking for a favor. That made Piper's eyebrows raise. What type of favor would involve the club and Jenny?

"I need a ticket to the show." Jenny batted her eyelids, making Piper shake her head and shrug her shoulders.

"What show?"

"It's all over the radio and I have to see them," Jenny pleaded, "If I don't, I'll die."

That still didn't answer Piper's question. The middle Halliwell sister just looked at her neighbor with raised eyebrows. Her mind went through all the phone calls she'd made this last week to make sure there was nothing she'd forgotten. They'd all been to and from suppliers, trying to organize things for the opening night at the start of the week.

"Not a clue what you're talking about." Piper finally said, looking back down at the paperwork. She didn't have time for this.

"She's talking about passion," a man said, walking down the stairs. Piper groaned to herself. She really would have to make sure that door was locked when she was here alone in the future during the day. It clearly wasn't safe, "Piper Halliwell?"

"Can I help you with something?"

The man held out a business card, which Piper quickly took to look at it. She needed to know who he was and what he was doing here.

 _Jeff Carlton, Manager_

"I have to tell you when I heard about P-cubed X-squared, it was as if the fates had smiled upon me." The man said to her, not waiting to be invited to sit down. Piper frowned, correcting him on the name. It was _P Three Times Two_ , not _P-cubed X-squared._

The man brushed her off, "Whatever. I manage Train."

"Train?" Piper was taken aback by the comment, but excited hearing that she was talking to the manager of Train, " _The_ Train?"

When Jeff nodded his head, Piper made sure she was listening to everything that he had to say. This could be perfect for her club—her business. Getting Train into the club would put the place on the map.

"The boys want to reacquaint themselves with the personal side of performing," Jeff explained "They want to connect again and I think your little hole in the wall here is just what the doctor ordered."

Piper was willing to ignore the dig about it being little and a hole in the wall if it meant getting Train into the place. In fact, she even called it a hole in the wall herself when she checked that the band really wanted to play here. Something deep down told her that this was too good to be true. If only she knew just how too good it was.

Placing a contract on the bar top from his briefcase, Piper saw that it all looked legit. All she needed to do was sign and the band would be able to perform in her club. It was like a dream come true.

For Jenny, it could be a dream come true, "Mr. Carlton, sir? Do you think it would be possible for me to meet the band? I'd do almost anything."

Jeff smiled, realizing that she hadn't quite said the magic words, "Be careful what you wish for, sweetheart."

* * *

Adam listened intently to the professor, not that it was easy. For some reason, the people around him preferred to talk about the upcoming Train concert than anything else. He kept trying to drown them out, but then came the mention of his cousin's club. Frowning, Adam turned around to face his college buddies.

"Did you say they were performing at P3x2?" Adam asked in a low whisper. Why hadn't Piper told him about this? This would easily put the club on the map.

Adam had to be honest with himself last night. The club was dead, and he was embarrassed for his cousin. She'd tried so hard, but the club hadn't picked up since the opening night. For a Friday night, it was a poor excuse for a nightclub and would take a lot of work to make the business work. And on top of that, the Manor was staked on the house. It had to succeed.

He was nervous, embarrassed and frustrated all at the same time. He couldn't even begin to imagine how Piper felt. But this was good news, if it was true.

"Yeah, dude," one of the boys grinned, "That's your cousin's club, right?"

"Yeah, almost like a family club, really." Adam nodded, his smile growing.

"Does that mean you can get us tickets?" one of the girls now asked, "We'd love you forever, Ads."

"I'll, um, see what I can do." Adam agreed, not really sure if he could get tickets or what prices he could wangle for his college friends. He would definitely try though, because he wanted to be there.

* * *

Prue tried to get the investment banker to stop asking her out. She was engaged and currently in the middle of planning her wedding—well, agreeing with things that Andy had chosen now and then. Prue wasn't the wedding planning type. But that didn't mean that some other guy could hit on her, especially with a dinner date in Paris.

"How about your sisters?" the man asked, "I'm sure if they're anything like you, they're beautiful."

Prue sighed, wishing that she would just stop, "I'll see. Just meet me at the club with the money?"

Once Barker had agreed, Prue was able to hang up the phone. Phoebe sat in the living room, going through a newspaper to look at job ads yet again. If they could afford it right now, Prue would suggest that she went back to college already. Phoebe had clearly shown an interest in it, but it just wasn't financially viable for them; not with Sam still in law school while the club was struggling.

"Was that the banker?" Phoebe asked, looking up from the newspaper.

"Yeah, Barker's gonna meet us at the club, hand over the check and that'll be that." Prue nodded, happy that they could at least get some extra money to help the club for now. Having a loan that wouldn't risk their home any more than it already was would be really helpful.

The sound of the front door opening and then closing caught their attention.

"I'll be two minutes to grab a bag, okay?" Dean's voice called out, as he walked past the doorway and to the stairs. Jo stepped into view of Prue and Phoebe, making them look at each other with knowing smirks.

"Going away for the weekend, are we?" Phoebe grinned, making Dean jump from the staircase.

"Jeez Phoebs," Dean sighed, "We gotta hunt. I'm gonna be gone all weekend. Can you tell Piper I'm sorry I can't come tonight?"

"Sure," Phoebe nodded her head, glancing over at Jo, "You're on a hunt together?"

Dean rolled his eyes and ran up the stairs so he could pack. Jo was left shuffling on the spot, being stared at by Phoebe and Prue. They'd been waiting for the day that the two of them would go off on a hunt together.

"All you have to do is remember pie and Dean will love you forever." Prue smirked, before turning back to her sister, "I've gotta get to the club.

"Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!" Piper shrieked as she ran in from the kitchen, "You will never guess who I just managed to get to play at the club. Me, all me by myself!"

The three women just stared at her with wide eyes, waiting for her to explain. Piper jumped up and down on the spot, excited that she'd really managed it; that all this marketing had paid off, "Are you ready?"

"What?" Phoebe asked, shaking her head while Piper held them in suspense.

"Get this...Train...my club...playing there...tonight!"

"What!" Jo asked, jaw dropping to the floor. The biggest band of the moment was playing at Piper's club. How did that happen when just a night ago it was completely dead.

"I networked, sent out feelers, send off press releases and wouldn't you know it! Train decided to put P3X2 on their schedule. How's about that?" Piper grinned, hugging her sisters as she talked to them, thanking them for being so generous and patient. She would thank her cousins too, but none of them were here.

Interrupting their moment, before either of her sisters could say anything, the doorbell rang. Piper missed the visible looks of relief on Prue and Phoebe's faces, as she turned to the door to answer it; brushing past Jo quickly.

"Leo! What…you're back? When?"

"Hi, Piper," Leo smiled nervously, stepping into the house before Piper even invited him. This wasn't a conversation to have on the doorstep, "We have to talk."

"Yeah, okay," Piper nodded, closing the front door. Dean had reached the bottom of the stairs, just as Leo glanced over at Jo, "Oh, Jo, this is Leo. Leo's, um, well…my…he's my ex. Actually, Jo, what are you doing here?"

"We're going on a trip," Dean said, holding up his duffel bag, as if that would answer all the unasked questions. While Leo knew all about magic and Jo knew all about hunting, the two came from very different worlds and Dean wasn't ready to let Jo into the magical world just yet, "It shouldn't take too long. Be back tomorrow night."

"Okay, uh, Leo, are you free tonight?" Piper decided to brush over the whole awkward moment, "Maybe you could be my date. We have backstage passes, all access to see Train at P3x2. I made it happen."

"Well, not quite." Leo sighed, glancing across at Jo and then looking over to Dean. That was a sign to get the huntress out of the house so they could discuss everything.

"What do you mean?" Phoebe asked with a frown, certain that her sister's marketing had helped put the club on the hot list. What else could it have been?

"Look, I'm really sorry," Leo sighed, "Can we talk about this in private?"

"No, Leo, what's going on?" Piper asked. Dean put his arm around Jo's waist, leading her out of the house. His eyes locked with Leo's, seeing the pleading in them. He knew that it was something magical and Dean needed to get the huntress out of the house now, or risk the family secret being exposed.

"Jo, let's go. The sooner we get to our destination, the better. I'll see you guys later," Dean waved to his cousins, before glancing at Piper, "You need anything, just call." Dean threw a warning glance at Leo, before walking out of the house with Jo in tow.

"Finally," Leo sighed, "look, I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you before, but I didn't have time. I had to move fast. I'm the reason Train is playing at your club. I made it happen. There's a demon involved."

"A demon?" Piper couldn't focused on anything else, just the two words that came out of his mouth. She hadn't seen Leo in months, and he decides to bring her a demon as his welcome home gift? Anger boiled, making her whole body shake.

"No, Jeff Carlton came to me and…and booked them himself." Piper shook her head, feeling two arms wrap around her. Usually she would fight against them, but she knew that it was Prue trying to keep her calm.

"White lighters…well…we have this special dust. We can only use it under certain circumstances, but I needed it this time," Leo explained, scrunching up his face as he tried to explain everything, "It's called memory dust and I used it on Carlton and suggested that he get Train into your club."

"Why didn't you just come to us?" Prue asked, suddenly feeling extremely protective of her little sister. Rubbing Piper's arms, Prue glared at her white lighter, fire in her blue eyes. She was making it very clear without speaking that Leo needed to have a very good explanation for all of this.

When Leo didn't answer, Piper did it for him. Shaking her head, she refused to take her eyes off the man, "He knows I would have been pissed off. What are you doing?"

"My job." Leo explained, trying to make it clear that this was a demon; there were innocent people at risk. He didn't have another choice, and he really needed to get Carlton and the band in the club so the Halliwells and Winchesters could deal with it.

"Your job? What are we, like, Leo's Witches now? We're supposed to kill a demon during a sold-out concert? Are you nuts?"

"Piper…" Phoebe rushed over to her sister to help try calm her. Piper didn't get angry that often, but when she did, her temper rivaled Prue's and Dean's put together. In fact, she was sure it would even rival it if Grams' was thrown in with it, especially when it came to something she was passionate about.

"No!" Piper shouted, getting both her sisters' arms off her, "Anywhere else but not there…not my place."

Leo just stared at Piper, as she continued to glare at the man. Five months. That's how long it had been since she'd seen Leo. Five months—almost six—and now he was asking her to do this on the first day they saw each other again.

He wanted to apologize again, but decided against it, "Carlton made a bargain with Masselin."

"That's the demon?" Prue decided to keep a level head right now. While it would put the club at risk, there were clearly innocent people at risk. One thing Prue and Phoebe could both do was take a step back from the situation and look at the real reason Leo did this; the innocents that would need protecting.

"Yeah," Leo nodded, thankful that Prue was listening to the real issue at hand, "In exchange for human sacrifices, Masselin will make Carlton rich and powerful by attracting successful bands to him. He has a brother, Crowley, although he makes other types of deals that involve the other person's soul. Right now, I just need to save the souls that are getting put…"

"Wait, Train is hooked up with a demon?" Phoebe focused on that, trying to get her head around the band's success. She couldn't believe a band like that would deal with the supernatural.

"No, they don't know anything about the demon," Leo shook his head, looking directly at Phoebe before he moved on, "The human sacrifices are devoured by Masselin, consumed for their souls. The more he collects, the more successful Carlton becomes."

"Eww!" Phoebe screwed her nose up, as Piper shook her head and walked into the living room. She just couldn't look at Leo right now, anger fuelling her body. It was physically shaking from all the anger inside of her.

"How do we vanquish him?" Prue asked, getting straight back to the point. She felt awful for her sister, but they all knew deep down that Leo had done the right thing; the only realistic thing that he could do to save more innocents.

"You can't destroy the demon without first freeing the trapped souls." Leo explained, although not really giving a way for them to vanquish the demon. The truth was that he wasn't entirely certain how to do that; just hoping that there was something in the Book of Shadows to help with that part.

With a sigh, he stepped forward towards Piper, hoping that he could seek her forgiveness; make her see that this was the only real option, "Look, Piper, I know you're upset…"

"No…no…I skated past upset just after you came in the door," Piper turned to face him, tears burning her eyes from the emotions overruling her body, "I'm at furious. Five months you disappear for and you turn up with this news."

"I never…I'm sorry, Piper," Leo sighed, keeping his voice quiet, "We have to talk."

"You bet your white lighter ass we do."

The only problem was that it would need to be later. Leo disappeared from the room, surrounded in white and blue lights. Nobody knew where he was going, just that he was gone and only _They_ knew when he would come back.

Prue and Phoebe stood on the spot, lost for words. How did they comfort Piper after this? There wasn't a card for something like this…nothing to say _'sorry your white lighter used your club as a demon trap'_.

"How could he do this?" Piper asked, wiping a couple of stray tears that had fallen down her cheek. She hated that he'd seen her cry. It just made her look weak and powerless, and she never wanted to come across like that when it came to Leo. When he was dying, that was different, but not at a time like this. Not when she was angry at him for using her club as a place to put innocent people at risk. Now the pressure was on to get the demon and vanquish him.

* * *

Andy and Darryl stood outside the club that Train had played the night before. While the band's roadies put instruments into a truck, the two detectives talked to the band's manager, Jeff Carlton. Darryl had a picture in his hand of the girl that had gone missing the night before.

"It's Tina Hitchens," Darryl explained, when Carlton just shrugged his shoulders at it, "She's been missing since last night when she came to this club."

"Yo! The address is on the front seat. P3x2!" Jeff called out to one of the roadies, before turning back to the detectives. Both instantly knew the place that they were talking about, and raised their eyebrows.

"P3x2?"Andy asked, his shocked look turning to a frown. Why did he now get the feeling that something magical was involved, rather than something normal, "Piper Halliwell's place?"

"Yeah, so I don't have a lot of time," Jeff sighed, "I answered your question."

"I didn't ask one." Darryl pointed out, his own shocked expression turning into a frown. The two detectives looked at each other, both in the job long enough to know when a gut instinct would turn out to be right. Both had the gut instinct that Jeff Carlton was involved in the disappearing women somehow. He just clearly didn't want to help them find out what had happened to the women.

"You asked me if I saw Tina whoever." Jeff shrugged his shoulders, but it turned out that Darryl had never asked that. Sure, it was a question he was going to ask later, but mainly to see if she'd actually been at the club and left at the end of the night. Right now, he wanted to know more because he was certain that this guy had _something_ to do with disappearance.

Jeff barely looked at the photo, before he glared at the two detectives, "Listen, you have any idea how many girls like that show up to something like this? Hundreds of them. Thousands. And they all look the same. Short skirt, tight tops. Like sexy little peas in a pod."

"So, what the difference does it make if one of them disappears?" Andy asked, a roll of his brown eyes. Jeff quickly back tracked, but it was clear that he knew more than he was willing to let on. An innocent person wouldn't get as defensive as he already had.

"Why aren't you hassling her boyfriend?" Jeff asked, running his hand over his face, "I haven't seen her. What's with the Gestapo routine?"

"It tends to follow the acting like a suspect routine." Andy pointed out, not in the mood for playing games. At least he knew where the band was heading next, and where this guy would be. If it was something magical, it would be in just the right place. He'd have to thank the gods for somehow getting this guy there at the right time.

"Am I under arrest?" Jeff now asked, looking between the two detectives. They both knew that they didn't have anything to hold the guy on, but Darryl wasn't quite done. He pulled out other photos of girls that had gone missing over the last few days, all of them linked to the band or clubs the band had played at throughout the week.

"None of them. Never saw them." Jeff sighed, barely even looking at the photos placed in front of him. Darryl was getting impatient, and stepped closer to the manager. It was a tactic to get him to feel uncomfortable, possibly get him to talk more.

"They all disappeared from clubs all around the country. Clubs that your band played in. That doesn't concern you?" Darryl asked. Jeff just rolled his eyes and shook his head. No, it didn't concern him in the slightest, and that annoyed Darryl and Andy even more. They would get to the bottom of this. The good news was that they had help on their side.

"If we're done here, see ya around." Jeff said, with a small wave. He left before he heard Andy reply, "Count on it." They weren't letting him go far.

* * *

Dean stood outside the apartment, his arms folded. This was something he really hated. Jo had saved all her tips to rent the apartment for the month. Clearly, she'd had it all worked out in her head, and had planned on coming along with Dean this whole time.

Now they were here, he wasn't too sure if it was a good time. Anything could happen to her while they went in search for this ghost. She matched the description of all the other victims, and that put her at some serious risk. He cared far too much about her to let something happen. Maybe he would have been better convincing one of his brothers or cousins to come along. None of them matched the description of the missing—presumably dead—women.

But no. He was in the apartment block, with Jo talking to the landlord. The jingling of keys reminded him of that, as well as Jo's sweet voice as she rounded the corner followed by a fat, sweaty and bored looking man.

"It's so convenient." Jo smiled, ignoring the beer stains down the landlord's vest top and the smell of body odor coming from him. She'd had to do that enough at the Roadhouse to make sure she got tips on a night. Some of the best tippers turned out to be the ugly, creepy guys.

"Yeah, it's a great building, fixed it up real nice," the landlord said, looking forward to see Dean waiting for them at the door, "All the apartments come furnished, too."

"It's so spacious," Jo flirted a little, just something she couldn't turn off sometimes. Dean clenched his jaw, feeling the green eyed monster inside him rising up. That would be something he'd have to turn off right now, "You know, my friend told me I absolutely had to come check it out, and I have to admit, she was right. You did a really good job with this place."

Jo and the landlord stopped near the apartment door, with the landlord eyening him. As Jo looked at him, she smiled, grabbing him around the waist, "Hey, you found it, honey. This is by boyfriend, Dean."

"Good to meetcha," the landlord said, clearly not that happy about there being a boyfriend. Dean instantly wondered whether this was the guy who had been abducting the women. Sure, he looked like a normal guy right now, but he could have been a monster—or even a demon living in a questionable meatsuit, "Quite a gal you've got here."

"Oh yeah," Dean smiled nervously, smacking Jo on her ass. He could barely hide just how uncomfortable he felt right now, "She's a pistol."

"So, you both wanna check out the apartment?" The landlord asked, opening the door to allow the two of them in. Dean had wanted to pick the lock and break in that way, but this had been Jo's idea. It would give them more time to get to the bottom of it all. As soon as the door opened, the two hunters pretended to look around and survey it to see if it was suitable to live in. They instantly knew that they would end up taking it, Jo ready with the money for a month's rent.

"So, Ed, um, when did the last tenant move out?" Jo asked, trying to make small talk to make it look like they were really just interested in looking for a place. If only he knew what they were really here for. One thing that hadn't crossed Jo's mind was that this guy was in on the whole thing. Her research told her that it had been going on too long for someone who had just bought the building a few years ago.

"Oh, about a month ago," Ed said, watching as the two looked around the apartment. If they would take it today, that would be great. But that was wishful thinking, considering the amount of people who had taken on look at the place and left, "Cut and run, too. Stick me for the rent."

"Well, her loss, our gain. Right, sweetie?" Jo asked, looking over at Dean. Dean turned his attention back to the huntress, his eyes wide as if he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, "You like it? I love it."

"Well, if you love it, it's good enough for me." Dean grinned, smacking her again on the ass. That just made Jo chuckle, as she pulled out a wad of cash from her handbag, making Dean's eyes grow wide. He'd heard she'd been saving her tips, but he hadn't realized just how much she had. This was far too much.

"We'll take it." Jo said, and Ed took the money before Dean had a chance to argue. They were now the tenants of an apartment for a month. That was just great!

The only good thing about it was that they did certainly have time to look into all this, and they definitely had time to search this apartment. Once Ed left the two of them together, Dean got to work with his homemade EMF detector, checking for any sign that there was a spirit anywhere. That was his first bet, although demon certainly wasn't off his list.

Jo was looking around other parts of the apartment, until she heard the EMF detector purr alive. Quickly looking over at Dean, she saw him standing by a light switch, staring intently at something on the wall. As she got closer, she saw black goo on the wall, and she just couldn't help but touch it. It was sticky and smelt weird; not too off-putting but nothing that she'd like in the apartment that she was now renting for a month.

"What is that?" Jo asked, and Dean ran his hand through it. He laughed once, without an humor behind it, "What?"

"That's ectoplasm," Dean told her, "I think I know what we're dealing with here. It's the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man."

Jo just rolled her eyes, waiting for the hunter to be serious for a moment. With a sigh, Dean smirked and explained more about it, "I've only seen this stuff, like, twice. I mean, to make this stuff you have to be one majorly pissed off spirit. So, we better find this badass before he snags anymore girls…or, you know, you."

"He's not gonna get me." Jo sighed, really wishing that Dean would stop the macho act. Little did she know it wasn't an act. Dean was genuinely worried that she was going to get taken by this spirit.

* * *

Phoebe flipped through the pages of the Book of Shadows, feeling Piper and all her wrath next to her. It didn't make it easy to look through the Book of Shadows.

"Hey, so when was anyone going to tell me that Train was playing at the club?" Adam asked, walking into the room, surprising both the sisters. Just behind him was Sam, the same questioning look on his face.

"Once we knew what demon we were dealing with?" Phoebe said as a question, a guilty look on her face. She'd wanted to call her cousins, but Piper had wanted to find out who this demon was; just to see if Leo was justified in using her club as the place to trap and vanquish him.

Frowning, Sam walked past his brother to get to the Book of Shadows, "Demon? What demon? Are you two okay?"

"We haven't see him yet," Piper growled, "Talk to my ex about that."

"Jeremy?" Adam asked, scrunching up his face in confusion. The comment earned a glare from Piper, making Adam recoil in on himself, "Sorry. Leo?"

Phoebe turned another page in the Book of Shadows, finally getting to the name of the demon that Leo had mentioned. Piper looked down and pointed at the creature, "There's Leo's problem."

"It's our problem, Piper."

"You want to know what the real problem is?" Piper asked, making it very clear that Leo had done something more than just tell the sisters about a demon. Sam and Adam looked at Phoebe, but she made it clear in her eyes that it was best not asking.

"Who is it?" Sam decided to move on from the current tension and find out more about this demon. He'd get the full story from Phoebe later.

"Masselin," Phoebe answered, looking up at her tallest cousin, "He feeds on souls and will be in the club tonight."

"The club?" Sam asked, but earned another growl from Piper. Deciding to skip that question now, he moved onto the next, "Okay, so vanquish. Is there a way?"

"What was with the attitude?" Piper now asked, surprising everyone else in the room. Sam and Adam looked at Phoebe again, hoping to fill in some blanks, but Phoebe looked just as lost as they did, "It was like he was angry that I was angry. I have a right to be angry, don't I? Five months I don't hear from him and he brings a damn demon into my club. No, I don't wanna talk about it."

"Then don't." Phoebe told her sister, trying to get back onto the real problem at hand.

"Oh my God!" Sam exclaimed, looking down at the Book of Shadows. He then looked back at his brother, motioning him for him to join them, "Get this. Masselin's victims are trapped within the demon. The unfortunate ones kept alive, their souls tortured for the pleasure he gets from their suffering. This is our demon?"

Phoebe glanced down at the book, reading the rest of the passage about the victims, "The demon seeks willing, trusting souls, delivered by the one who sealed the pact."

"The pact?" Adam asked, "There's someone else involved in all this?"

"Jeff Carlton," Piper growled, shaking her head at the whole situation, "Train's manager. Damn it. I'm already the willing, trusting soul…a sucker. Someone who falls for a quick line from a pretty face."

"That wasn't about Carlton, was it?" Sam asked, earning a shake of the head from Phoebe. But there wasn't time to talk about it. Right now, they had a demon ass to kick.

* * *

What they hadn't realized was that across town, Jeff was getting cold feet. He hated the idea of the cops onto him, and needed a way to cover his tracks. The only way to do that was to stop bringing the souls to the demon. It may have meant no more fame, but it would keep him out of jail.

"They're gonna catch me, all right! I'm out," Jeff told the demon in the back room of P3X2, while Train set up on the stage, "No more souls. The pact, the agreement is now officially null and void."

Masselin wasn't about to let Jeff get away with it that easily. With a click of his fingers, Jeff was set on fire. He could feel the fire burning through his clothes and touching his skin. All his nerve endings were burning, the smell of burning flesh filling his nostrils. But just as quickly as the fire started, it stopped. Masselin dropped to the floor, breathing heavily; the pain still in his mind.

"You will honor your agreement, Mr. Carlton," Masselin said, You will bring me more souls."

"Okay," Jeff said, crying on the inside as he realized that he had no way out of this, "Okay." And he knew right then that he would burn in hell for this.

* * *

"I'll flip you for the sofa." Jo smirked, as they got set up in the apartment. It was a small, one-bed, so one of them would be sleeping on the couch. Dean just rolled his eyes, making himself comfortable on the black, torn, leather couch. It wasn't bad to say that it had obviously been here for a while. It would be okay to sleep on overnight; he'd certainly slept on worse throughout the years of hunting.

Jo sighed, sitting down at the table, looking through the paperwork spread out across the table, "So, why didn't you ask one of your cousins or brothers to come with you since they know about all this now?"

"Well, Prue has work, Piper's trying to start up her business and Sam and Adam have school," Dean shrugged his shoulders, "Phoebe's looking for a job still, but I thought you'd be a handful enough on your own. You and Phoebs together? No thank you!"

He closed his eyes on the couch, letting Jo get back to looking through the research, "Why'd you wanna come so much, anyway?"

"I just…well…I dunno," Jo shrugged her shoulders, but Dean opened one eye to look at her. The look in it told her that he knew that was a lie, "Okay, don't laugh, but I guess I connected with the victims. Like you pointed out, I fit the bill."

Dean shrugged his shoulders and closed his eye again. He definitely wasn't going to laugh at that. There were times that he took cases because he felt like he connected to the cases; or they connected to someone close to him. That was how a few hunters he knew worked, and he wasn't going to judge.

"Plus, I've kinda liked hanging out with you." Jo added on at the end. That part did make Dean laugh. Opening his eyes, he saw her raised eyebrows, the hurt in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, but you wanted to come on a hunt to hang out with me?" Dean asked, sitting up on the couch to look at her, "Are you serious? We hang out all the time…"

"Away from my mom and your family, okay?" Jo sighed, looking back down at the paperwork. It was then that she noticed something, "Hey, did you know this place was built in 1924. Started as a warehouse, but was converted into apartments a couple of years ago. Before 1924 it was an empty field."

Dean stood up to walk behind Jo, so he could get a better look at the research. There were pictures of the empty field, "Someone die bloody when it was a warehouse?"

"Checked that," Jo shook her head. Dean placed his hands on Jo's shoulders as he leaned over the back of her. His grip was firm but gentle at the same time. If he just squeezed a little, she knew she would be putty in his hands. Of course, then he just had to start massaging her shoulders. Closing her eyes, she bit her bottom lip, "There's like zero violent deaths in the last 82 years. Erm, Dean?"

Dean had started massaging her shoulders, without even realizing it. Once he realized his actions, he took his hands off her shoulders and ran one over the back of his neck, "Sorry."

Dean started pacing the floor, as he thought through all the options, "You checked for obituaries and police reports."

"This isn't my first rodeo, Dean."

"Right," Dean nodded his head, trying not to offend her. Realizing that he'd been massaging her shoulders had really thrown him off. He hadn't quite expected her to complain—she had complained, right? Maybe she hadn't and then…

No, Dean had to keep his thoughts on the current ghostie. Then he could think about everything else, "So, it could be a cursed object brought here."

"Then we'd have to scan the whole building!" Jo sighed, "That could take hours—days even. We can't exactly get everywhere, either."

"Well, guess we're gonna have to search everywhere we can." Dean shrugged his shoulders. It wasn't like there was a better plan.

"We could always use me as bait," Jo suggested, a shrug of her shoulders. Dean's eyes grew wide, fear running through him. That was _not_ going to happen.

"No chance," Dean shook his head, making Jo stand up to argue with him, "You are _not_ going to play bait. Your mom would kill me if anything happened to you."

"Will you stop being so scared of my mother, Dean?"Jo shouted at him, getting fed up of the macho, control freak that he could be. She'd noticed it when they'd been on other hunts. If Dean didn't come up with the idea or it meant Jo possibly getting hurt, he wouldn't agree to it. They'd be stuck doing things the awkward, slow way, rather than the quick way that made sense to keep everyone else around them safe.

"This isn't negotiable, Jo, and it isn't because I'm scared of Ellen," Dean shook his head, "I don't want anything to happen to you and if I'm not there…"

"I'm not a damsel in distress," Jo shouted back at him, refusing to listen to anything else, "You don't need to protect me. You're not my savior. I'm a grown up, Dean. I can look after myself."

"Well, right now you're being a child," Dean shouted back, "Do you have any idea how it felt to lose Adam? Sure, he's back but my dad did something to make that happen. He should still be six feet under. I couldn't bare something like that to happen to you. Those feelings…the feelings I have for you…"

"Great, so I'm like a little sister…"

"No, Jo!" Dean sighed, running his hand over his face, "You're not like a little sister. You're…you're…"

"I'm what, Dean?" Jo asked, "Spit it out!"

Dean couldn't. There were no words that he could say that would do this justice. Instead, he closed the gap between them and kissed her hard, gripping her head as he did it. Dean pulled back to look into Jo's eyes, giving her the chance to say no. But she didn't. Instead, she just looked back into his eyes, allowing him to kiss her again. This time, she wrapped her own arms around Dean's neck, pulling him close. Dean's arms went around Jo's waist, picking her up so her legs could wrap around her waist. They both knew where this was going to lead, and they needed that one bedroom for that.

* * *

Prue looked into the eyes of the investment banker opposite her. Rather than meeting at the club, Prue had called to meet him at her office. With it being a Saturday, nobody else would be around but it would get Barker out of the way of the club so the band could setup.

Now that he sat opposite her, his slimy hair gelled to one side, she was glad that she had the perfect reason to say no to his dinner invitation; even if he wouldn't stop.

"So, what you're telling me is that you no longer need a white knight to rescue you and your family from debt," Barker said, sitting back in the chair, "But we had a deal."

"What we had was an agreement to make a deal," Prue pointed out, "And I no longer agree." At least no contracts had been signed. Sam could help her if this guy really kicked up a fuss, not that she could understand why he would. The guy had offered a no-interest loan. What was he getting out of it by her not taking the offer in the end? It didn't make sense.

"Well, you see, I think your sister's little venture is on its way to great success," Barker told her, a smug grin on his face. Something inside Prue didn't like the way that this was heading, "Which is why I've already gone to your bank and make an offer to pick up your loan. I just have a feeling that your sister's club is gonna be the best valuable item you could possibly have brought into my field of view. Now, put me on the guest list for tonight, please. Me, plus one. I'd like to see what I'm buying."

Barker stood up to leave, making Prue stand up with him, "I'm asking you nicely, for your own sake, not to go through with this."

"Is that a threat, Ms. Halliwell?" Barker said, turning around to face her with his hand on the door handle, "Be careful. You could be jeopardizing a very profitable relationship. 2 passes. I'd like a booth, too, close to the stage."

And with that, Barker was gone. All Prue felt was dread. She should have seen something like this coming. Nobody gave away money for free; there was always something to come out of it.

* * *

Jo woke up, feeling the warmth of strong arms wrapped around her. The warm breath on her neck brought her back to reality, as she remembered a few hours ago. They'd actually done it! Dean had kissed her and they'd ended up in bed together. Years of flirting had finally led to this. It had been something she'd wanted for a while now, but Dean had never seemed that interested; treating her more of a sister or best friend than anything else. It had only been recently that she'd gotten other vibes off him, and now they'd all led to this point.

Wiggling, Jo let herself relax in his arms. They made her feel safe and wanted. That's how they always made her feel whenever he hugged her, but this was one step higher than that.

Feeling her bladder complain at her, Jo groaned and started sliding out of Dean's arms, trying her hardest not to wake him. He'd crashed out not lo after their session; a session that she could still feel between her legs. The man had clearly left bruises on her thighs.

Her bladder complained at her again, urging her to find a way out of his warm embrace soon. With a shift, she managed to get out to find her panties and a top. The only top was Dean's black t-shirt. She'd only need it for a few minutes. It would come right off then and back in its place. He'd never need to know.

Once it was on, Jo made her way to the door of the bedroom.

"Where are you going in my shirt?" Dean mumbled. Jo turned to see him looked at her out of one eye.

"Sorry, I was trying not to wake you," Jo apologized, "I guess I shoulda known you'd be a light sleeper being a hunter an' all."

"Yeah, so you didn't answer my question." Dean smirked, rolling onto his back. The sheets pooled around his hips, just covering his dignity but showing off his chiseled abs and chest. They were good enough to have any girl weak at the knees. No wonder the space on his bed post had ran out for more notches.

"I'll be right back, okay?" Jo replied, wishing she could just climb back into that bed with him.

With that, Jo left the bedroom to get to the bathroom. Dean laid in bed and then looked towards the window. It had started getting dark outside, making him wonder how long they'd been asleep for. Sitting up, he looked around for his jeans.

He didn't have time to find them though. The sound of an ear-piercing scream filled the apartment.

"Dean!" Jo's voice called out and then it all went quiet. Dean shot up out of bed, pulling on his discarded pair of boxers, to get to Jo.

"Jo!" he called out, but didn't hear her answer, "Jo!"

He searched the whole apartment for any sign of Jo. There wasn't one, not even a glimpse of her as if she hadn't been in there with him a few minutes ago. Standing in the hallway, just by the bathroom door, he ran a hand through his hair. How could he let something happen to her? Why had he even let her come on this damn hunt? Now she was missing and all he had was…

Dean sniffed and then frowned. The smell was something he recognized, but not something he could put his finger on. It was like a gas leak, but not quite; something he'd only smelled a handful of times. It had to have had something to do with Jo's disappearance and now he was back to square one.

* * *

Piper and Adam worked together seamlessly as they made the potion to vanquish the demon. Sam and Phoebe just watched them, standing off to one side. It was easier if they didn't try to get involved.

"I don't get it," Sam now spoke, "How will this work, exactly?"

"It's like an antacid," Adam explained, being the one that came up with the idea, "Masselin should disappear like a demonic gas bubble, freeing his victims and vanquishing him."

"Because it's so easy to give our cat a vitamin," Piper rolled her eyes. Despite working on the potion, she wasn't too certain about it, "I don't know how we'll get this down a demon's through."

"That's what this is for," Phoebe said, holding up a balloon, "Before you ask, I let him pretend I'm a willing victime and get Masselin to swallow this right before he swallows me."

"That's too risky, Phoebe," Piper shook her head, "You two can't be okay with her doing this. Prue and Dean would kill us."

"What other idea is there?" Adam asked, with a sigh. He tried to ignore the question, working on the potion. Sam just shrugged his shoulder, an uncertain look on his face. He hated this idea, too, but Adam was right. They had no other option.

"I hate him." Piper sighed shaking her head, but she wasn't talking about who everyone thought she was, "He didn't even have the decency to ask me first. He at least coulda discussed it with me."

"Are we talking about Leo again?" Sam asked, looking over to Phoebe. The youngest Halliwell sister just nodded her head, with a roll of her eyes. While Piper had every right to be angry, it was about time to get over this. They had a demon to vanquish.

But when something annoyed Piper, she couldn't just let it drop, "I mean, can you believe him? He acted as if we've never had a relationship before. Like it was just business. And I saw the future, you know. Leo and I get married. A marriage in the future implies some sort of relationship in the present. Where's the relationship?"

"Dean and Jo had a kid in the future, where's their relationship?" Adam asked, pointing out another obvious.

"At least they're hunting together right now," Piper threw up her hands in frustration, "Sometimes I could just freeze him and kick him in the…" the doorbell ringing cut her off, making her growl, "That better not be him."

Sam rushed out of the room to answer the door, as the two Halliwells and youngest Winchester continued to discuss Leo—well, Piper ranted and the other two listened. He reached the door, smiling to see Dan on the other side. Maybe this would cheer Piper up a little.

"Hey, Sam," Dan smiled, "Is Piper in."

"Yeah, in the kitchen," Sam stood to one aside, allowing his neighbor in. Once he shut the door, he could lead Dan through the house and into the kitchen, where Piper was still ranting away about Leo.

"Bad time?" Dan asked, making everyone in the kitchen look at him in shock.

"Dan! What are you doing here?" Phoebe asked, a nervous grin on her face. She looked between Piper and Dan, as he spoke to the middle sister about Jenny saying that she was going to see Train that night.

"Did you tell her she could go?"

"What! No! She can't!" Piper exclaimed.

Dan sighed, nodding his head, "She said you said it was all right."

Piper had to admit that she never told the 15-year-old she couldn't go to see the band, but that was mainly because of how fast things had been going. She'd got the contract, arrange the time and that was it. All done. She'd rushed straight home to tell her sisters after that.

"Well, she's picking out her clothes, right now." Dan sighed, really not wanting to get Piper involved in all this, but she didn't really have a choice.

"I'll go talk to her." Piper nodded, and made her way out of the kitchen. Adam and Phoebe offered a small wave, while Sam folded his arms with a smirk, "Leo!"

The three witches were out of the kitchen faster than the speed of light to see Leo standing in the hallway, a nervous look on his face, "Hi, Piper. I was hoping we could, uh, talk."

"Sure, Leo this is…"

"Dan Gordon!" Leo grinned, holding out his hand to shake the man. Dan had no choice but to reciprocate, while the four witches just watched in shock.

"Wait, you know him?"

"Are you kidding?" Leo asked with a chuckle, "He used to play second base for the Mariners. He had an all-star season going, till he blew his knee sliding into home. I still think you were safe."

"So do I," Dan nodded, "Damn ref was a demon for that."

Sam couldn't help but pick up on the choice of phrase, narrowing his eyes at the man, but he would let it go for now. He was still surprised that Leo was a baseball fan.

"Ha, you have time for baseball, but you don't have time to tell me about you-know-what," Piper glared at her ex-boyfriend, "You know, before you-know-who shows up you-know-where."

"I can tell you two need to talk, so…" Dan started, but Piper cut him off. It was clear she had no intention on talking to him right now, playing the handyman card.

"Phoebe, Sam or Adam can show him around," Piper said, "We can talk to Jenny."

Once Piper and Dan left the house, the attention turned to Phoebe. Sam and Adam still hadn't heard the full story, and Leo was looking for answers for her attitude right now.

"She's just a little upset." Phoebe shrugged her shoulders, hoping that it would be enough for the white lighter.

"Yeah…I don't blame her." Leo sighed, deeply. The last thing he'd wanted to do was hurt Piper in all this, "I didn't mean...I know I should have talked to her first, but time was of the essence."

"We understand," Phoebe nodded her head, "Give Piper a chance and she'll understand, too. You just coming back like this and for this reason...well..."

Leo nodded his head, looking down at the floor. There was nothing he could say against that. It definitely wasn't the best way to come back to San Francisco and the Charmed Ones.

* * *

"Will you stop protecting me, Prue!" Andy shouted, following his fiancée down the hallway of her workplace. He was frustrated and didn't care that people were now looking at them, "I'm a cop. I'm used to danger."

"Not this type of danger," Prue seethed through her teeth, turning back to face Andy. He hadn't expected her to stop, and nearly walked right into her. Placing her hands out, she managed to stop him in time and then looked into his eyes, "You can't be at the club, Andy. You nearly...I nearly lost you the last time..."

"But you didn't," Andy shook his head, "You know you could lose me on any one of my investigations. Are you going to start showing up to them, too."

Prue looked around, sensing the eyes in the waiting room on her. This was not the type of conversation to have in her workplace. Pulling Andy towards the elevator, she pressed for the button and then waited. Time seemed to pass slowly, but Andy respected the need to do this in private so waited with his fiancée. Finally, the elevator dinged, and the doors opened to show an empty space in front of them. The two rushed in and quickly pressed the button to get to the ground floor.

"What do you know about Jeff Carlton, Prue?"

"We're working on that right now, Andy," Prue sighed, rubbing her eyes, "This isn't a run of the mill demon, okay? It's not a simple warlock where we can just use our powers and be done with it."

"It's like the Yellow-Eyed Demon?" Andy asked, and then frowned, "Wait, this isn't about Yellow Eyes, is it?"

"What do you..." Prue frowned, but then shook her head with a labored sigh, "Has Dean been talking to you?"

"Dean is more open to me helping than you are," Andy nodded his head, trying not to get the hunter into any trouble, "He just has me keeping an eye out for Rodriguez or for anyone fitting the yellow eyed description right now. Is this about him?"

"No, not that we know of," Prue shook her head, running her hand through her longer black hair as it brushed into her eyes, "It's something different and not exactly easy to vanquish."

The elevator dinged again, doors opening to reveal people waiting to get in on the other side. Prue glanced at Andy, before leaving the elevator, "We're working on it. Just please trust me."

* * *

Piper followed Dan through his house. It was very much like her own, but the opposite way around. Not that she was expecting it to look any different. When growing up, she'd know the family that lived in the house and had been here a couple of times. One thing that was different was the shotgun lying on the pine dining table, cleaning items all around. She couldn't help but smile at the familiarity of it now that Dean was back home. The difference with their house was that Prue always insisted that Dean use a cloth to cover the table first, and he always obliged.

"You shoot?" Piper asked, pointing towards the shotgun.

Dan seemed to take a double look at the shotgun, almost forgetting that it had been left there. Quickly nodding, he muttered something about hunting now and then before leading Piper up the stairs to Jenny's room.

Frowning, Piper glanced back at the shotgun but then followed her neighbor so she could speak to the teenager. As soon as the door opened, Piper was hit with a sense of familiarity. She remembered sitting on the beds of her sisters, watching them as they picked out clothes to wear to their dates that they'd have during high school. She was never the one to actually do the picking; at least, not that often.

"Jenny, you can start putting your clothes away," Dan told her sternly, but she wasn't really paying attention, "You're not going."

"But, Piper..."

"Jenny, the state can shut me down." Piper explained with a sigh, hating that she'd let the teenager even get the faintest thought that she'd be able to come along.

"How are they gonna find out? Are you gonna tell 'em?" Jenny asked, turning around and holding up two dresses, "Do you like the red or the denim?"

Piper wasn't going to let herself get pulled into that conversation, and stuck with the legal issues that she would face if Jenny was ever caught in the club. Luckily, Dan jumped in to help explain things, too—at least he tried to. Jenny rolled her eyes and threw her clothes on her bed.

"Like you've never faked an ID or snuck into a bar," Jenny shouted at him, "Like you've never pretended to be someone you're not. You do it all the time."

"We're talking about you, not me." Dan warned her, clearly trying to stop her talking. Piper narrowed her eyes, but let the argument wash over her for now. It definitely wasn't the time or place, but Piper certainly had some questions.

"Well, Piper said I could go."

"No I didn't," Piper shook her head, "I'm sorry, but I can't let you in the club."

Tears threatened to fall, as she got angrier about the situation. It wasn't easy for the 15-year-old, and she'd finally had enough when Dan made it clear that Jenny's parents had put him in charge. Shouting about never getting to be in charge of her own life, she rushed out of the room. Dan looked over to Piper apologetically, "I'm sorry. She's just feeling a little, you know..."

"Betrayed," Piper nodded, "I get it." And she really did. If only Dan really understood just how betrayed Leo had made her feel earlier.

* * *

Dean scoured through the paperwork again. He'd got no sign of Jo anywhere, but one thing was clear. This spirit was coming from the walls and Dean needed to act fast to find her right now. The problem was there was nothing in the paperwork. The building was clean and the lot that it was on was nothing.

With a heavy sigh, Dean threw a photo of the plot of empty land on the table and grabbed the bottle of beer. Taking a mouthful, all he could do was think about how he'd gotten Jo in trouble. She was somewhere in the building, probably scared out of her life, and all he could do was sit and wait; hope that something would jump out at him.

Calling for help was definitely out of the question. Calling Ellen would mean telling her that Jo was missing. Calling Sam and Adam would mean admitting that he couldn't solve a case on his own—and admitting that Jo was missing. Calling Bobby...well, none of them were really options. He needed to figure this out himself.

Sighing again, Dean leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table. He ran his hands through his soft hair, looking down at the sepia-colored photograph. It was only then that he let his eyes trail from the plot of land to the buildings next to it. One of them had bars on the windows. There were only a handful of places that would have bars on windows back then. Chances were, they were next to a prison.

* * *

Jo opened her eyes, but she soon realized that it was doing no help. The place that she was in was dark. All she could smell was damp, and all she could feel was cold. It didn't help that she was still in her panties and Dean's t-shirt. If only ghosts would let their victims get dressed first.

The sound of dripping water caught her attention from somewhere in the room, and Jo put her hands out. She didn't have to reach too far as she came in contact with wood on one side and a cold, damp wall on the other. Next, she reached her hands upwards. Just a few inches in front of her was more wood.

"I'm in a coffin." Jo spoke to herself in a low whisper. Running her hands across everything, she felt grooves in the wood above her. They were tiny, about the size of her fingers.

 _Oh God!_ Jo thought to herself, covering her hand over her mouth. They were scratches from the victims before her. She'd definitely been taken by the spirit that had come for the other women, and now she was in the lair without Dean knowing where to come. She was going to die.

* * *

Dean typed as quickly as he could on the laptop, bringing up search record after search record on the buildings around the current apartment block. It didn't take too long to find out that in 1835 Moyamensing Prison had been build and torn down nearly 130 years later. That wasn't the interesting point, though. It turned out the plot of land had previously been used to hand people. That would explain why the apartment building was the spot for an angry spirit. This had been the spirit's death spot.

Moving on from that, Dean started looking through the list of deaths. Groaning, he realized there were 157 names on the list, and it was going to be very difficult to narrow it down.

"Looks like I'm digging up a hell of a lot of stiffs." He said to himself, but knew that he would definitely do it. This was Jo he needed to save, and he wasn't going to go home without her.

Scrolling through the list of names, Dean frowned when he passed one. It looked familiar, but he couldn't place it. Pulling out his phone, Dean quickly made a phone call to someone who would.

"Hey, Dean. What's up?" Adam answered after just two rings, making it clear that he wasn't in any classes right now.

"Hey, sorry gotta get straight to this gig. Got a question for ya," Dean replied, really hoping that his little brother wouldn't ask about Jo, "You recognize the name Herman Webster Mudgett?"

Adam laughed for a second and then mumbled something to someone else. Dean was sure he could hear Sam's voice in the background saying something, before Adam came back to the phone, "That was H. H. Holmes' real name. Why?"

"You've gotta be kiddin' me," Dean laughed to himself, knowing why it stood out now, "Thanks, little brother. Will explain when I get home."

Hanging up the phone, Dean got back to the laptop and started typing something else in the search engine. Sure enough, Holmes was in the prison and had been executed on the spot in 1896. As if they were going to face America's first series killer, before anybody knew what a serial killer really was. While the death toll was officially 27 from his own confession, many thought it was at over a hundred and he absolutely loved petite blondes. Jo fit right into that...

 _Chloroform,_ Dean suddenly thought to himself, as he realized what the smell was when he first walked into the apartment. Groaning, Dean realized there was another problem. It wasn't going to be easy to salt and burn the corpse, with it being encased in a couple tons of concrete.

First of all, he had to find and save Jo, and then he could work out a plan to get rid of the ghostie. One problem at a time.

* * *

Leo walked through the club and glanced across to the bar. Piper was talking to Jeff, and Leo felt the guilt again. He'd never expected this to be so difficult. Honestly, he knew he should have expected something, but he really thought that Piper would look past the personal and see the magical problem at hand. He was grateful for her sisters and cousins who were on his side to protect the innocent.

"What are you doing here?" Piper spoke coldly, a stone glare from her eyes. It made the white lighter feel even more uneasy, but he needed to be here.

"I'm watching over things," Leo explained, trying to keep the emotion out of his voice, but he couldn't help but feel hurt, "It's what I do, remember?"

"I remember when it didn't use to be a job." Piper was about to walk away, but Leo stopped her, laying a hand on her gently. He really wanted to talk to her about this, but before he could, Piper shook her head and made it clear that it wasn't a conversation they were going to have. There was too much at stake right now.

"You really messed up." Sam said from behind the white lighter. Leo turned, nodding his head.

"I really did," he admitted, glancing back at where Piper had left. Feeling self-conscious, he placed his hands in his light denim jeans and looked back at the middle Winchester, "I don't know how to fix this."

"All you can do is give her time," Sam shrugged his shoulders, "Trust me, I speak from experience. Piper will get over it eventually, but right now she's angry. And she knows how to hold a grudge."

* * *

Meanwhile, in another part of the club, Phoebe had cornered Jeff Carlton, teasing him with something about top 10 video things from MTV the month before. It had instantly worked, when Jeff grinned, "Somebody actually saw that?"

"I didn't even know there was such a thing as a music manager," Phoebe continued to play to his ego, sensing the urgency to get to wherever this guy was keeping his demon, "I'm taking a class in music management at the learning Annex. You're my inspiration."

Jeff seemed interested to start flirting, but Phoebe wasn't. She worked on getting business tips, "I would do just about anything to get the inside scoop."

And that was it. Jeff grinned, offering Phoebe the chance to meet the band. Not that she would probably need his help, being the sister of the club owner and technically part owner of the club anyway. But she'd continue playing to his ego, because she really needed to find that demon.

As Jeff led Phoebe through the club, Prue, Piper, Sam and Adam watched from afar. All they knew was that he was taking her to the back room, so that had to be where the demon was. There was no time to lose.

Phoebe just felt herself pulled into the backroom, Jeff saying something about there being no time to waste. She knew that this was it, and put her hand in her purse ready for the demon. However, the door to the room flew open and Carlton was frozen, just as Masselin appeared in the room. Phoebe looked at him, pulling the balloon out of her bag, just as Prue, Piper, Adam and Sam watched. Masselin saw the balloon and then quickly retreated back into the room.

"Did you get him?" Sam asked hopefully, but Phoebe shook her head.

"We need to regroup. He knows."

* * *

Dean had spent the last two hours searching the building for anywhere that Jo could be hidden. He knew that Holmes had a habit of building properties with gaps in the walls big enough to hide women. That was how he stored his victims, sometimes leaving them to starve. The only good thing from that was that there was a good possibility that Jo was still alive.

But he still had to find her.

Back in the apartment after not finding any possible hiding spot in the whole place, Dean slumped in the chair running his hands through his hair. How was he going to explain this to anyone? How was he supposed to go back home and tell them that he'd lost Jo; that she was somewhere possibly being starved to death?

He couldn't. He didn't have that choice, and it meant getting back to the drawing board.

Sighing, he looked back through all the bits of paper, finally coming across some blueprints. He'd seen them earlier but had disregarded them. Now they stood out as hope, especially when he noticed it was an old sewer system that had likely gone disused for decades.

Grabbing a metal detector, shovel and bag of hunting supplies from his car, Dean rushed to the back of the apartment building and quickly did a search for a sewer drain. With the amount of grass and debris all over the place, it wasn't like he was just going to stumble across it. Finally, the metal detector beeped, and Dean dropped it and started digging up at the ground. At least if anyone saw him right now, he wouldn't look like a fugitive like he usually did in cemeteries.

The last little bit was taking too long, though. Dean threw the shovel to the ground and started digging with his hands to uncover the trap door to the sewer.

* * *

While Dean searched for Jo, she was currently still reeling from the fact that she was being buried alive. At least that's what it felt like. The only thing that saved her from that scary thought was the dripping sound of water. She was underground and trapped, but not buried.

Feeling along the two walls, Jo could feel that one side was definitely wooden, and there was a gap between two planks. It was clearly a makeshift trap door, and there was renewed hope. Maybe Jo could break through the wood. Maneuvering herself in the tight space, ignoring the feeling of rubble, dirt and everything else cutting into her bare legs and arms, Jo managed to get herself into a position to kick at the wood.

 _If only you had shoes on_ , Jo thought to herself with a roll of her eyes. Her bare feet were going to hurt, but she needed to do this for her own life. She could put up with splinters in her feet for a few days.

Before she had a chance to kick, though, she felt a sudden chill in the air. As a trained hunter, she knew what that meant, and wasn't surprised when she could feel a scraggly beard touching her ear. Jo backed away from the mouth, as a deep voice whispered just how pretty she was.

"Go to Hell!" Jo shouted, grabbing something next to her and swinging it in the way of the ghost. It didn't do much good, as she felt a hand now reach through to her and fondle her body. Jo screamed at the top of her lungs, just as she heard the unmistakeable sound of gun fire. Someone else was down here; someone had come for her and forced the ghost away.

"Jo!" Dean called out, his heavy footsteps rushing into a space close to her.

"I'm here!" Jo shouted, reaching a hand out through the gap in the wood. A hand reached out to grab her, and Jo was about to flinch back until she realized just how warm it was. Relishing in the warmth, Jo finally let herself cry at the situation she'd found herself in.

"It's okay, I'm here," Dean told her, before letting go of her hand. Flashes of light hit into her prison cell, while Dean got himself into a position to get the wood off the walls.

Dean shone his torch into the prison cell, making it easier for Jo to climb out. It was only then she could look at what she'd grabbed earlier. A bone; some poor dead girl's bone and she had no idea how long it had been down here. Shrieking, she let the bone fall to the floor and then grabbed Dean in the biggest hug of her life, clinging to him for dear life.

"I'm here," Dean told her, grabbing her tight around the waist. There was no way he was letting her go right now, "I'm right here."

"Let's get the hell outta here before he comes back." Jo said, pulling out of the hug to get away, but she could see in Dean's eyes that that wasn't the plan. There was a guilt in there, as he shuffled his feet.

"You remember when you thought you might make good bait?" Dean broke the idea to her, "Well, it might be the only option we got to stop Holmes from coming back."

"Holmes?" Jo asked, frowning as she recognized the name, "As in _the_ H.H. Holmes?"

With a sigh, Jo nodded her head. She knew that innocents had to come first. The one good thing about Dean was that he would be there the whole time. Being bait wouldn't be as bad knowing that Dean was waiting in the wings to take care of the ghost. And once she found out the plan, it wasn't that bad.

That was how Jo ended up sitting in the middle of what she'd found out was a sewer system, her knees cuddled up to her chest. Shivering from the cold, she hooked Dean's t-shirt over her legs. He'd given her his flannel shirt, but she was still cold. And extremely scared.

While she was back out of that wooden grave, she was still somewhere deep underground in the dark. She wasn't even allowed her flashlight, and just had to trust that Dean would see the ghost when he turned up. She did just Dean, but it didn't stop her from shivering with fear when she heard movement behind her.

Breathing out, she saw her warm breath, telling her that a ghost was now in the sewer with her.

"Now!" Dean suddenly shouted, and Jo knew that that meant to dive forward. As she did, she covered her ears as a few gunshots went off. Bags that Dean and Jo had previous placed strategically around the sewer were opened, rock salt pouring out of them. Jo didn't even bother to see the look on Holmes' face, as she rushed over to Dean, clinging onto him for dear life. Once she did look, she could see the fear, terror and shock. Holmes was gibbering to himself, panicking as he looked at the salt that was now sealing him into his own tomb.

As Holmes screamed, Jo just glared at him, "Scream all you want, you dick. There's no way you're stepping over that salt!"

With that, Dean slammed the grate shut and pulled Jo towards the exit of the sewer. It was all over.

* * *

While Dean and Jo had dealt with their supernatural problem, Phoebe and her sisters and cousins realized that they were still one step away from dealing with theirs. Masselin now knew, and it would make it a lot harder to vanquish him and save the souls that he had already taken. It didn't help that Phoebe had taken an unusual pessimistic view on the whole situation.

"I wish we could just stuff his head in a toilet and make him cough up the demon." Piper grumbled, getting sympathetic looks from her sisters and cousins.

"Still upset with Leo?" Sam asked, a small smile forming on his lips.

"I'm talking about Carlton." Piper informed her cousin, shaking her head, making the others giggle. It was getting hard to keep up with who she was mad at.

While they found a way to get the demon, Jeff was setting his sights on a new innocent. Under orders from Masselin, he needed an innocent to lure the witches, get the potion and then feed Masselin the innocent and the witches. The Charmed Ones hadn't realized that Jenny had snuck out of the house after all and made it down to the club. She'd even managed to sneak into the club, just as the investor had bribed his way through the door.

At the same time, Darryl and Andy had also reached the club, certain that the next victim was going to go missing here. They had it on good authority that it was magical, but it would never stop them from being there. They had their jobs to do, and their own innocent people to protect.

As everything seemed to be happening, Jeff made his way over to the security guard to encourage him to get the "illegal" substance out of Phoebe's bag. While he did that, he came across the young girl he'd seen at the club earlier that day. The one that had said she'd do almost anything, and he knew now that that was good enough.

Phoebe didn't have much chance before the security guard grabbed her purse, telling her that he was searching for weapons. Pulling out the balloon, it burst all over the two of them, mainly hitting the witch. Phoebe grumbled, but didn't have much time to do anything else. She spotted Jenny following Jeff through the club and into the back room. Catching that Sam and Adam had seen the same thing, all three of them made their way to Piper and Prue.

Meanwhile, Piper and Prue ran into Chris Barker, who made his intentions very clear, "I'm gonna take over everything from here on out."

"Wait! What?" Piper asked, just as Darryl and Andy reached them.

"I'd be willing to discuss you staying on," Chris ignored the fact that the police were here, "However, in a diminished capacity, of course."

"Piper! Jenny's here with Carlton." Adam said, making Prue's eyes grow wide.

"And I lost the potion." Phoebe admitted.

"Piper, we need to talk." Andy sighed, but Baker pushed him out of the way, telling him to wait in line. So much was going on that Piper had finally had enough. With a flick of her wrists, everything around her froze, except for her sisters and cousins. The four witches looked around, with Adam instantly seeing Jenny and Jeff frozen by the door to the backroom.

"Look!" Adam pointed, pulling the youngest of his three cousins through the club. The others followed, just as the club unfroze. The men surrounding the witches found themselves talking to empty spots in front of them.

"Piper, freeze them again!" Sam said, seeing that Jenny and Jeff had now unfrozen. However, they got through the door before Piper had a chance, and her power didn't work in another room.

"Move it!" Piper pushed her way through the unfrozen crowd gathering in her club, her sisters and cousins following. They finally got to the door, running into it to find that nobody was there. They'd gone through into other room, one that Piper had just used as storage for her excess stock.

Jeff stepped into the backroom from the storage room, and Prue didn't give him a chance to do or say anything. With a fling of her hand, she forced him to fly into the couch opposite the desk.

"Help us." Adam suggested to Jeff, making it clear that it wasn't a request.

"He'll kill me," Jeff looked up at the five witches, shaking his head in fear, "He'll burn the flesh off my bones for eternity."

"Listen up, skid mark," Piper stepped forward, glaring at the man, "You tell us how to save Jenny and get Elvis outta the building, or spending an eternity in hell is gonna be the least of your worries."

Prue and Sam looked at each other with raised eyebrows, wondering when Piper had become such a threatening force. Becoming a witch had certainly been good for her, or may it was coming from the knowledge of the future and Leo turning up.

"There's nothing you can do," Jeff shook his head, "There's no way of saving your friend. He's gonna swallow you whole, and you'll still be alive."

Sam frowned, just as Adam was about to attack the man. Grabbing his brother's arm, he looked at his cousins, "That might not be a bad idea."

Looking over at Phoebe, Sam grabbed the wrap around her outfit that took the majority of the potion. Phoebe looked at him with raised eyebrows and then grinned, "Of course! Back up!"

Phoebe kicked the door to the other room down, making Masselin appear. The demon just looked at them with a wide smile, "It's time to join your friends, witches."

Prue shook her head, and waved her arm. The wrap slew off her sister and into Masselin's mouth. As much as he tried to fight against it, it was no use. Right at that moment, Barker decided to walk in to find out what was going on.

Suddenly, Masselin exploding, green, sticky goo flying everything. Barker was hit with a lot of it, but not as much as the victims that laid on the floor; all alive and dazed. Close behind Barker was Darryl and Andy, who just looked at the scene with amused grins.

"Prue?" Andy asked, looking over at his fiancée. She just grinned at him, holding her hand out at the victims and then towards Jeff.

"That's your kidnapper."

As Darryl arrested Carlton, Andy helped the victims out of the club. It left the witches with Baker, who wasn't in the mood to even consider taking over the club anymore. It was too much of a liability, and it was clear that these five cousins would be able to hurt him.

"The club is all yours." Baker said, before rushing out of the backroom, leaving the five witches to sigh with relief. The day was saved.

* * *

Piper sat at the dining table, paying every single bill that she'd gained in the club over the last month. It felt good to be able to pay them all off, and she had to admit that it wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for Leo. Of course, Prue and Phoebe couldn't help but point that fact out when they walked into the dining room to see what she was doing.

"Something else Leo saved me from was that hostile takeover," Piper looked at Prue, pointedly, just as the front door opened, "The bank called and told me Mr. Baker didn't have the stomach for gruesome stage theatrics. He's withdrawing his offer."

"I'm sorry, Piper." Prue sighed, looking down at her feet.

"Just next time tell me the truth, okay?" Piper asked, looking at her two sisters, "Both of you."

"So, you actually sealed Holmes into his own tomb?" Sam asked with a laugh, as he followed Dean into the house. The elder Winchester just nodded his head, as he placed his bag on the floor by the stairs, "What if it rains?"

"I borrowed a cement truck to make sure the salt stayed there," Dean shrugged his shoulders, "It oughta keep 'im down there 'til hell freeze over."

Sam couldn't help but laugh, just as he was about to close the door. Before he could, a hand got in the way and Leo popped his head around with a sheepish smile, "Erm, hi."

"Hey, Leo, good to see you," Dean grinned at the white lighter, but soon caught that it clearly wasn't a good thing, "What have I missed?"

"I'll tell you about it while we grab a beer in the kitchen," Phoebe grinned, motioning towards the kitchen with her head, "You can tell me about your trip."

"Yeah, and what those looks between you and Jo were about at the Roadhouse." Sam laughed, following his brother and two cousins into the kitchen, so Piper could talk to Leo in private.

"Thanks," Leo started "For everything."

"Just doing my job," Piper told him, "Do you wanna sit down?" She was about to step into the living room but saw the look on Leo's face, instantly knowing that he couldn't. One thing she'd learned in the events at the club the night before was that business and pleasure didn't mix.

"We got Jenny home safe, and Dan doesn't know she was at the club," Piper smiled, folding her arms over her chest defensively, "Are you sure she won't remember anything?"

"A little hocus-pocus," Leo shook his head, "I took care of it."

"You erase memories now?"

Leo shook his head with a frown, "I make pain go away, when I can...sometimes, I can't."

There was an awkward silence between them, as Leo built up the courage to ask another question, "A few months ago, when I almost died. Did you mean what you said? That you loved me?"

"I thought you were gone." Piper frowned, stepping backwards hurt that he had heard that confession.

"Did you mean it?" Leo asked again, and this time she nodded her head, "What about now?"

"I still mean it," Piper sighed, "But...we can't keep doing this, Leo. I can't keep doing this. I feel like all I do is wait around for you to show up and then when you do, it's just not..."

Leo stepped forward, grabbing Piper's hands, "You were the one who didn't want me to clip my wings."

"And you shouldn't, not for me," Piper looked into his blue eyes, "It just doesn't make it any easier for us. And now I don't know what to do."

As usual, Leo heard the calls from his bosses, and he had no other option but to leave her, kissing her before he did. Piper sighed, walking over to the door to close it. Before she did, she saw the newspaper on the porch. Stepping out, she looked over at her neighbor's house to see Dan watching her from his own porch. He smiled, waving at her before walking inside.

Piper couldn't just wait around for Leo. Their relationship seemed doomed to fail, and she wouldn't pine for him. It was time to move on, and maybe she just had a person to do that with.

* * *

 **I know a lot of you were looking forward to Leo coming back into it. It's been difficult to add him in when it's not a Charmed episode because there's never really been a reason for it. As the show continues, there is a strong possibility that he'll become the regular that he was in Charmed.  
**

 **Anyway, I'd love to hear what you thought of the episode. Please R &R and I'll be back in two weeks with episode 8. This is a mixture of Hell House and an episode of my own creation, so I really look forward to sharing it with you. Hopefully, I'll keep finding time to write, even while I'm working overtime.**


	8. Episode 8: There Are Two Sides to Every

**As I promised, here's the next episode of Supernaturally Charmed season two. Thank you for all the support-reviews, favorites and followers-I've received since the last chapter. The good news is that I've now written episode 11 in full. What I will do is post once a week until that episode and then take a wee break to get back ahead. Think of it like the winter hiatus in shows :) It won't be too long, I hope. I just really want to get back ahead so I can post on a weekly basis.**

 **Anyway, this one is the episode with an original storyline involved, as well as a rewrite of Hell House. I hope you enjoy.**

Episode 8: There's Two Sides to Every Ghost Story

Prue and Andy sat at the dining table, looking through piece of paper after piece of paper. Piper and Dean couldn't help but smirk as they walked into the room from the kitchen, both with platefuls of pie. Glancing over his cousin's shoulder, Dean looked at a sheet of paper.

"You can cross Aunt Emily off," he told her, "She doesn't really exist."

"What?" Prue asked, with a frown. Looking up at her cousin, she took off her glasses and glared at him, "We met her..."

"No we didn't," Dean shook his head, "It was Grams with a glamour spell. Aunt Emily definitely doesn't exist. Dad told me a couple of years ago."

"Why would Grams do that?" Piper asked, frowning, as she picked up the sheet of paper from Prue's hand, "Why make up an aunt?"

"Some messed up witch thing," Dean shrugged his shoulders, "Dad did explain but I didn't really pay that much attention to that part. We were hunting a Wendigo at the time. But at least that's one more to cross off your list."

Dean walked around the table and took a seat opposite Andy. Piper sat next to him, shaking her head incredulously. Andy couldn't help but smirk as he looked down at the list, "Any more we should be aware of?"

"Not that I know of," Dean shook his head, taking a mouthful of pie, "Hey, are we allowed to bring dates to your wedding?"

"You have a date?" Prue looked up at Dean with raised eyebrows, "You know, I don't want some hookup..."

"You really think Dean would want to bring some hookup?" Piper asked with a laugh, looking at her cousin, "Who's the mystery girl? Why haven't you mentioned her before?"

"Jo," Dean kept his poker face as he waited to see Prue's and Piper's reactions to the comment, "Can I bring Jo?"

"You and Jo?" Andy raised his eyebrows, just as Prue and Piper grinned. As Piper shoved him playfully, Dean frowned and rubbed his arm, conscious that the attention was on him.

"Sort of, okay?" Dean frowned, "The last hunt, we...well...we slept together. This was before she got kidnapped by a psycho ghost but..."

"Wait, Jo was kidnapped by a ghost?" Andy now asked, but quickly decided it wasn't worth asking any more questions. He just shook his head, and sat back in his chair, while the Halliwell sisters grilled Dean for more information. The poor boy wasn't getting away from telling them more about things between him and Jo—and how it had progressed to them sort-of dating.

"I thought you said you'd never pull someone into this life." Piper smirked at her cousin, crossing her arms.

"Well, Jo's a hunter," Dean shrugged his shoulders, "She knows about this."

"She knows the family secret?" Prue asked, frowning. It wasn't that she didn't want Jo to find out, but that she wanted the whole family to talk about it first. That's what she did when she wanted to tell Andy, and what Sam had done before telling Jess. Dean should at least give them that option this time.

"No," Dean shook his head, a frown forming, "I'm not sure how to tell her that. She's a hunter, Prue. Her dad was a hunter. They'd...she'd wanna kill us if she found out so I need to break that to her gently."

Prue and Piper threw Dean sympathetic looks, just as Andy sighed with a frown, "You know, I don't know what's worse. Believing magic could exist but knowing nothing about it and then finding out you're dating a witch, or finding out you're dating something you've always believed was evil."

Dean chuckled, shaking his head before taking a mouthful of pie. He wasn't too sure, either, but he remembered how he'd reacted when he'd found out about magic and being a witch. It made him worried about Jo's reaction.

* * *

Adam sighed, as he grabbed a bowl from a cupboard in the dorm kitchen. There was one good thing about being in a self-catering dorm; he got his Lucky Charms on a morning. Well, he would do if whoever had them last had put them away. Instead, they were lying on the table, spilled everywhere.

"Graham!" Adam growled, just as Graham walked into the kitchen, mug in hand.

"What?"

"You're the only other one here who eats Lucky Charms," Adam sighed, "Why didn't you put the box away? They wouldn't be all over the counter top then. You know people don't pick up after themselves in this place."

Graham frowned, shaking his head, as he looked up at the shelf where the box usually lived. It was definitely empty, but Graham hadn't touched them that morning.

"I swear this place is haunted, sometimes," Graham chuckled, filling his mug with coffee, "You know, Katie swears that she heard someone telling her having her girlfriend over was a sin. There was nobody else in her room."

With that, Graham left the kitchen. Adam remained, looking at the Lucky Charms box with a frown. Haunted? Was it possible that his dorm room was haunted? Of course, it was Halloween in two days; what better time for a ghost to come out of the wood work?

* * *

That night, three boys and a girl walked along a muddy path, up to an abandoned cabin in the middle of the Angeles National Park.

"We shouldn't be here," the girl said, following the boys up the path, "We could get in trouble."

"If you wanna go back, Kacie, then go," one of the guys said, pointing his torch up the path, "It's not that much further."

Kacie rolled her eyes, as a second guy with dark hair grabbed her around the waist and pulled her in, "C'mon, Craig's just being a dick."

Craig continued walking forward, taking the light with him so his friends had no choice but to follow him. This was a place deep in the national park that people had forgotten existed, one that had a dark story connected to it. Finally, the rundown cabin came into view.

Kacie shuddered, pulling her jacket around her waist. Just two days from Halloween, the weather was closing in. The humid nights had gone, and now the idea that winter was coming was making itself known.

"I'm so not going in there." Kacie shook her head, making Craig laugh. They'd come all this way, and he was definitely going to check it out.

"Okay, let's just hurry up and get back to the car," the dark haired boy said, pulling Kacie forward, "It's friggin' cold out here."

The group finally walked towards the house, watching where Craig shone his light. They saw glimpses of symbols on the walls of the cabin, making all of them frown. The place looked abandoned, old furniture still in the home. Paintings and pictures were hanging on angles, cobwebs covering over them to make it unclear who or what the subjects were. The light fixtures had thick spider webs over them and the tables had thick layers of dust.

As Kacie stepped forward, the floorboard creaked, and she couldn't help but yelp. Craig looked behind him, laughing at Kacie's actions. She just rolled her hazel eyes, and walked past him.

"Didn't you say it lives in the root cellar and goes after girls?" Kacie hadn't believed in the ghost story, but that didn't mean she really wanted to be here. Now that she was here, though, she was going to make it look like she wasn't that scared at all.

"Always girls," Craig grinned, "Strings 'em up."

"Who says that? Where'd you hear this crap?" the boy who'd been with Kacie asked, pushing past his friend before following his girlfriend into the root cellar.

"I told you, my cousin." Craig shrugged his shoulders, following the two into the root cellar. They all walked down the wooden steps to the cellar, their footsteps clomping loudly in the empty room. Craig just laughed, as he walked through the various shelves, full of jars with strange creatures and items sitting in some sort of liquid. It was the typical horror house, perfect for a pre-Halloween scare.

"Look, it's just a basement full of skank-filled jars in some crap hut," Craig laughed, "I don't see anything scary. Do you?"

Laughing, he turned back to face his friends. They were all looking past him, though, terror on their faces. With a frown, Craig turned slowly and held up his torch. Slowly swinging from the rafters, there was a blonde-haired girl, her eyes wide and lifeless.

The group of teenagers screamed and ran out of the cellar. Whatever it was, they didn't want to be part of it.

* * *

Opening credits

* * *

Adam and Sam walked into the Roadhouse, Phoebe rushing behind them as she placed her cell phone in her bag. She didn't even have the chance to look where she was going, which was how she ended up bumping into Ash on the way through.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Phoebe quickly apologized, grinning like mad when Ash winked at her.

"Don't sweat it," Ash told her, making sure she was steady on her feet again, "But I would have thought you would have known something like that was going to happen." He winked again, before walking away, making it clear to Phoebe that he knew something. Sam and Adam had overheard the comment, and watched Ash as he disappeared into the back suspiciously. What did he know?

"You don't think he knows something, do you?" Phoebe whispered, as she walked over to Sam and Adam. They all looked over to where Ash had left to, before turning their attentions to each other.

"I guess we'll have to find out." Sam sighed. He really hoped it was just some sort of joke about Phoebe's seemingly lack of vision, and not that he knew about their powers or their family secret. Because if Ash knew, did Ellen and Jo know too?

* * *

Dean sighed as he pulled himself out from underneath the car he was working on. It was time for a much needed break. One good thing about work was that he could think while he did it. It was his time to work through issues in his head, and the question of telling Jo the family secret was one of those issues.

While he'd love to tell her all about the family secret and his magic, he didn't want her to end up resenting him. He knew she was suspicious of him—or of something—after the incident with the Benders last month. She hadn't said anything since that hunt, but there were times that Dean had seen her watching him. The hunt last week with the ghost had just made things a little more awkward.

Dropping the wrench in the tool box, Dean wiped his brow with the back of his hand. It wasn't as simple as just telling her. He would have to prove that magic wasn't evil; that witches weren't necessarily bad.

"Hey, Dean." A male's voice close to him made him jump. It certainly wasn't something he was expecting, considering most people would be on their lunch break by now. Dean was manning the fort until they got back.

As much as the voice startled him, he had recognized it. With a smile, he turned to see Darryl standing close to the car Dean had previously been working on.

"I'm sorry to come to your work but...well, actually, I guess it's payback sorta."

"What's up, Darryl?" Dean asked with a smile, chuckling at the comment. It was payback, considering the amount of times they'd gone to Darryl and Andy at their workplace.

"There was something that came across the system. It seemed...well, it seemed like something of yours but I'm not sure," Darryl explained, shifting nervously on his feet. Frowning, Dean nodded his head and picked up a cloth to wipe his hands, "It did led to me surfing some paranormal websites just to see if there was anything like that in the past."

"You're doing my job for me?" Dean asked with a smirk, crossing his arms. Darryl chuckled with a nod of his head.

"I guess I am, although it's also my job," the detective pointed out, "Look, there was something that just...well, after knowing you, your brothers and cousins for so long, it really stood out to me. The police in LA don't think it's..."

"Whoa! LA?" Dean raised his eyebrows, cutting the African American detective off, before holding out his hand, "A bit out of my area."

"Hunters have areas?" Dean had to shrug at that question. Some of them did, but there were others that would drive around the country or cross state lines when needed. But he did know that there were hunters covering the LA area, and if it was anything serious, they would have likely taken care of it.

"Well, this happened a couple of months back, and this cops don't think there's anything. Just think it's kids yanking their chains," Darryl sighed, "I know the cops could be right, but...well, like I said, something stood out for me. I ended up reading some firsthand accounts and they seemed pretty sincere."

"In your online digging?" Dean narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. It wasn't that he wasn't interested or didn't believe Darryl, but he was skeptical. He also didn't really fancy a drive down to LA.

"Yeah, there's a site called ." Darryl now spoke as if he was embarrassed about the site. Dean smirked, nodding his head as he guessed why straight away. There were high chances that this was a site live streaming outside of Mom's basement. He'd run into these types of sites before, and the majority of the time the owners were looking for quick cash. They had no idea about ghosts.

But there was also something in Darryl's eyes. He knew the detective wouldn't just send him off on a wild goose chase, so Dean agreed to hear more, "Why don't you tell me about the case."

* * *

Phoebe and Adam walked along the corridor of the dorm building, reaching Adam's door. One of the students rushed past, books in hand, making both Adam and Phoebe chuckle.

"Students just don't get being on time!" Adam shook his head, putting the key into the lock of his dorm room door.

"Well, why should you?" Phoebe shrugged her shoulders, "I bet he wishes he had Piper or Dean's powers."

"Speaking of powers, what are we gonna do about Ash?" Adam asked, with a sigh as the two walked into the room. Nobody was there, which gave them the perfect time to chat, "I mean, this is a big deal. I know Sam wants to tell Dean but you know what Dean will do."

"Yeah, probably go charging in without thinking first," Phoebe nodded, "Look, we'll deal with it. We got Sam to promise to hold off for now. We'll see what we can do; you never know, we might get a sign from someone. Ash could have just been joking and not realized what type of meaning it had to us."

Adam nodded his head, just as a rack of DVDs fell to the floor. Phoebe shrieked, as Adam looked up with raised eyebrows. When he realized that nobody was anywhere near it, he frowned, thinking back to that morning at breakfast. He was just about to walk towards the rack, when an old woman flickered in front of him. She glared at him, making him stagger back with raised eyebrows.

"You stay away from my boy," the woman shouted, "He doesn't need your kind."

She flickered away, and all Adam could do was look at Phoebe, "I guess I have something else to deal with first. It looks like my dorm room is haunted."

* * *

Prue and Andy were still sitting at the dining table when Dean got home from work. Smirking, he shook his head and offered them a small wave.

"Hey, not so fast!" Prue held up her hand to him, "What do you know about wedding cars?"

"Not much," Dean shrugged his shoulders, "I fix cars not drive them professionally."

Andy chuckled as Prue waved him off, continuing with her reasoning, "I thought you might get some in the garage now and then."

"Why have a wedding car when we can use the Impala?" Andy shrugged, looking over at Dean with a grin. The eldest Winchester brother just shook his head and laughed. There was no chance he was letting it get used as a wedding car. Baby could not be dressed up in wedding crap.

"Keep searching," Dean suggested, before walking up the stairs, "I've got some research to do. I'll see you both later." With that, Dean left the two on their wedding planning to get to his bedroom. He didn't quite make it though, as Sam walked out of his own room, a law book in hand. Sam wasn't looking where he was going, and almost bumped into Dean in the hallway.

"Hey, sorry!" Sam sighed, and then frowned, "You haven't told Jo our secret, have you? Maybe Ellen or even Ash?"

"I haven't told anyone," Dean shook his head, "Why would I? You know, Prue asked me the same thing about Jo today. Just because we slept together and hunt..."

"Whoa! You two slept together?" Sam asked, eyebrows raised, "I didn't see that one coming. I know in the future there was a kid, but...well...I didn't think you thought of Jo that way."

"I don't know, man," Dean shrugged his shoulders, walking into his bedroom and grabbing his laptop off the desk. Making himself comfortable on his bed, he just let Sam continue his rambling, joining him on the bed.

"I guess it makes sense. She's a hunter and so are you. It's not like...well, you said you wouldn't get anyone involved in this life, but if she's already a hunter..." Sam shrugged his shoulders, "But you've not told her?"

"Not yet." Dean shook his head, opening the laptop and typing in the web address that Darryl had given him earlier.

"Not yet? You're thinking about telling her?" Sam was clearly reading between the lines, and would make a great lawyer one day. But that day wasn't today.

With a labored sigh, Dean looked at his younger brother pointedly, "What's your point?"

"It's..." Sam started but them smirked, shaking his head, "It's nothing. Just something...never mind. I'm sure it's nothing too much to worry about. What you doing anyway?"

Dean realized that it was a deliberate change of subject, but he'd go on with it for now. He wanted to get on with this research anyway, "Oh, just some website that Darryl asked me to check out. Thought it might be a case."

" ?" Sam asked, raising his eyebrows at his big brother, "I never thought you'd check out these weird websites."

"Sometimes they can be useful," Dean shrugged his shoulders, and started looking through the pages. He'd finally found the one with the firsthand accounts of that night a few months ago and instantly chuckled, "This one isn't though. Well, useful to debunk a theory but that's it."

Closing his laptop, Dean sighed and looked at his brother, who was watching him expectantly, "Darryl thought there might be a case, but the firsthand accounts are all different. Some say the house was painted in black and others in red. Some say the girl had blonde hair and others say she had brown or red hair. It's clearly a case of them not getting their story straight."

"You know, eyewitness accounts aren't exactly reliable," Sam pointed out, "It's why prosecution needs other evidence to back them up. Can't just rely on the witness. Maybe they just got things mixed up in the moment and now their minds are playing tricks on them."

Laughing, Dean shook his head, "Always the lawyer. So, what do you suggest, Sasquatch?"

Sam rolled his eyes at the nickname, but grabbed the laptop and opened it, "Start with the source and talk to him. Maybe he knows a little more."

With that, Sam left his big brother to consider all his options. Of course, Dean just had to follow the good advice. Quickly searching online, he found out the name of the boy who started the rumor about the Hell House. From there it didn't take long to find out his number and make a call. Now all he needed was a good enough excuse to be ringing.

"Hi, Craig Thurston?" Dean asked after the phone had rung a couple of times before being picked up by a boy that sounded no more than 18, "I'm Dean, and I run a blog all about hauntings and legends."

"No way," the boy laughed, almost seeming pleasantly surprised, "I'm a writer, too. I write for my school's lit magazine. I always thought about setting up a blog."

"Yeah? Well, maybe you should," Dean pretended to compliment the guy before continuing on, "I was looking for local hauntings in the LA area, and rumor has it that you might know of one."

"You mean Hell House?" Craig asked, "I didn't think there was anything to the story."

It didn't take long for Dean to get some information from Craig about Hell House, and he even jotted down all the information just in case. Craig rattled off a story about Mordachai Murdoch who had lived there in the 30s with six daughters. During the Depression, his crops started failing and he started to go off the deep end. Rather than letting his daughters die of starvation, he'd killed them one by one, stringing them up from the rafters.

"Now they say that his spirit is trapped in the house forever, stringing up any other girl that goes inside." Craig finished, and all Dean could do was roll his eyes. He'd have asked where the story came from, but of course it was always from a friend of a friend. In Craig's case, it was a story that his cousin had told him and who knew where she'd heard it from.

"Look, I didn't believe it for a second." Craig said, but Dean quickly read between the lines. Placing his pad of paper to one side, he sat forward on his bed and leaned on his elbows.

"Now you do?"

"Look, I know that girl was real and she was dead," Craig said, "It wasn't a prank. I don't wanna go anywhere near that house ever again, okay?"

There was some sort of sincerity in the boy's voice, enough to tell Dean that it really could be a case. It would be possible for the spirit to get rid of the body and hide it somewhere. Maybe the kids had come into the house while he was in the middle of the killing. Instead of attacking the others, he waited until they left. It didn't happen often, but he had seen it; especially when ghosts had a type and this ghost certainly seemed to have that.

With a sigh, Dean thanked the boy and hung up. He would need to at least take a drive down to LA and check out this Hell House.

* * *

The scent of mint instantly hit Andy's senses as soon as his walked into the kitchen. Piper stood behind the stove, cooking away, only looking up to offer him a smile.

"Something smells amazing, Piper."

"Thanks," Piper smiled, "Just trying out something new."

There was a silence between them as Andy poured himself some coffee; nothing awkward, just clear that they didn't have anything to talk about. Finally, Piper broke the silence with a sigh.

"Hey, Andy, what would you say if I said I was suspicious about someone?"

"That would depend on who it was and why," Andy shrugged his shoulders, leaning on the still slightly damp counter top. Piper had clearly just cleaned it all before starting to cook, "Are you okay?"

"I'm not sure," Piper replied honestly, stirring the minty sauce that she was making, "I… well…I saw Dan's house last week and, well, something seemed a little off. He had this shotgun out on his kitchen table."

"A shotgun?" Andy asked, "You're worried about someone because they have a shotgun? Dean has how many guns in the trunk of his car?"

"But Dean has a reason. He's a hunter," Piper shrugged his shoulders, "Dan works in construction. What would he need a shotgun for? He didn't seem happy that I'd seen it, and said something about hunting."

"Hunting?" Andy asked with a smirk, "You know, people do hunt for fun right? As in real hunting."

Piper sighed, looking down at her sauce. Maybe she had been over-reacting, but her spider senses were tingling. She was sure that there was something else going on. The last year of being a witch had helped her suspicions grow when new people came into their lives, especially her life. All she ever seemed to attract was danger or some sort of heartache. Not that she was projecting her issues with Leo into this situation.

"Look, how about I check this guy out for you?" Andy shrugged his shoulders, "It will probably be you being overly suspicious—and I really don't blame you after the last year—but I'll check him out tomorrow at work."

"Thank you, Andy," Piper smiled, a thankful look in her brown eyes; just what she wanted to hear, "And can we keep this from everyone else right now? I don't want Dean finding out and getting freaked out. He's already worried that hunters will show up."

"Of course," Andy nodded his head, "Nobody has to find out."

"Find out about what?" Dean asked as he walked into the kitchen. Sam and Prue followed behind, their eyebrows raised as they looked between Piper and Andy. The two looked at each other before shrugging their shoulders.

"That's for us to know." Andy grinned, winking at Prue. There was a hint that it had to do with the wedding, and that stopped a few questions. Prue narrowed her eyes, though, and Andy knew that he was going to get some pushing later tonight.

"Well, I need to get down to LA," Dean sighed, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge, "Turns out that Hell House might actually be haunted. I need to check it out before I decide, though."

"You're going to LA alone?" Piper asked, looking at her eldest cousin with raised eyebrows, "Why don't I come with you?"

"I think it might be safer if I go alone," Dean shook his head with a deep frown, "After Jo getting snatched last week…"

"All the more reason for someone else to go with you, Dean," Sam backed his cousin up, "If something happened to Jo and she was on her own, she'd have died. If you go and get snatched by some spirit, we'll have no idea. You can't go alone."

"Plenty of hunters hunt alone."

"And how many do you not hear back from?" Sam asked, eyebrows raised. Dean sighed, shifting his weight between his feet.

"He's right, Dean," Prue now backed up Sam, "Take Piper's offer while you can. It's not like she often puts herself in this type of situation."

Dean glanced over at Piper, who grinned at him. With a single nod, he motioned towards the door, "I'm leaving in 10. Pack light."

* * *

Adam groaned, as he pulled up the listing in the search results. He should have known that he would pick the only dorm building where a suicide had happened. Phoebe looked up from the laptop, confused at Adam's moan.

"You know, this could only happen to me," Adam sighed, "Turns out a teenager committed suicide here."

"That's led to a ghost?" Phoebe asked with a frown, "I'm surprised at that. Vengeful spirits have always been those who have been killed."

"Well, there was a mother of the kid. She went missing, no bags packed or anything. Police suspected it was murder-suicide, but there was nobody ever found. It was almost as if the woman dropped off the face of the earth."

"Because that really happened," Phoebe rolled her eyes and walked over to the bed to sit next to her cousin. They went through the report, and Phoebe couldn't help but feel that there was more too it, "What's the betting that he did kill the mother and she's the one out for vengeance."

"Killing teenage boys in the dorm?" Adam asked, but shook his head, "There's one problem with that. Nobody else has ever died here. There have been apparent sightings of a woman threatening gay teenagers, but that's about it."

"That seems a bit specific, doesn't it?" Phoebe asked, looking directly at her cousins. As they thought more about it, the more it did seem too specific, so Adam did another quick search.

"So, there have been a few accounts over the years, since the boy's suicide," Adam now spoke once he got a few search listings up, "They always describe the same old woman, telling them that it's their fault her Timmy was sinning."

"Sounds like little Timmy may have been gay and she couldn't handle that," Phoebe sighed, "So, I'm guessing this place used to be apartments."

Adam nodded his head. That was something he'd already found out, but what he hadn't checked was where the apartment was that Timmy and his mother lived. After doing another search, he chuckled to himself. Their apartment was on this floor.

"So, now what?" Adam sighed, rubbing his hand over his mouth. Phoebe grinned, picking up a pad and pencil.

"This is where magic comes in," Phoebe grinned, "Let's find out what really happened."

It didn't take long for Phoebe to piece together a spell. Adam quickly grabbed the candles that she needed, and then put a sock on his door to warn his roommate not to come in. After that, the two cousins sat opposite each other on the floor, the candles lit.

"So, it will get us to the time period," Phoebe explained, "Just to see the truth. You ready?"

"Let's do it." Adam nodded his head, vowing silently to rid his dorm room of ghosts and spirits.

Taking each other's hands, Phoebe and Adam looked down at the piece of paper and said the spell together.

" _Hear these words, hear the rhyme,_

 _Take us to the place and time._

 _Show us the truth from this place,_

 _What happened to mother and son in this space?"_

All the two saw was the room around them spin, the furnishing quickly changing some of the walls disappearing. It was clear that Adam's dorm room had once been the living room of the apartment, a broom closet where his dorm closet stood and a fireplace where his bed should have been.

Sunlight shone through the windows of the living room, showing off the 1980s decor.

"What are you doing here?" An older woman's voice suddenly caught their attention. Phoebe and Adam quickly looked up to see a woman in her 40s walking into the room with a mug of coffee in her hands, but she wasn't looking at either of the witches. Crossing the room, she walked straight through the two witches with a, "Shoo!"

A meow behind them alerted them to a pet in the room, and Phoebe couldn't help but visible sigh. At least they couldn't be seen while they were learning more about this dorm room.

The mother now sat down, opening up her book while she drank her morning coffee. Phoebe glanced at her cousin with a nervous grin, "Well, it looks like the spell worked."

"Yeah, let's just hope we get the answers we need and get back to our own time," Adam sighed, "I'm not the biggest fan of time travel."

* * *

It didn't take too long for Dean and Piper to get down to LA. They knew it wouldn't, and Dean was glad that they could check out Hell House during the day. With Halloween so close, the last thing Dean wanted to deal with was trying to do this research while there were a bunch of kids looking for a fright.

Piper had grimaced as soon as she saw the run down farm house, glancing over at her cousin, "You sure this is the right place."

"Yeah, why can't ghost houses ever not be big mansions and homely cottages, huh?" Dean smirked at Piper, pulling her towards the abandoned house. If he was honest, he would have liked something a little better than this, but he went were the work was.

As they walked into the house, they were instantly hit with the smell of damp and rotting wood. It didn't bother Dean, but Piper couldn't help but hold her hand up to her nose. It didn't stay there for long as she walked into a cob web. Screaming, she waved her hands to try and get the thing out of her hair, while Dean just laughed at her. Once she was done, she couldn't help but glare at him, "Thanks for helping!"

"You looked perfectly capable yourself." Dean winked, before pulling out his EMF reader to check the house. The various symbols around the property had caught his attention, but he was more interested in EMF first. While the device made a few noises, Dean knew that they weren't real readings. Piper just watched, as he tapped his reader and then sighed.

"Ghost?"

"The EMF reader is picking something up but not what we want," Dean sighed, pointing over at some power lines and a tower just out of one of the windows, "I think that has some juice in it and is screaming with the readings."

Putting his EMF reader away, Dean now paid more attention to the symbols around the house. There were plenty of them, but something just didn't seem right to him.

"This guy looked like a bit of a Satanist," Piper commented, looking at some of the sigils around, "You don't think these have been hear all this time, do you?"

"Some of them are new and definite not old man Murdock's," Dean shook his head, "The reverse cross has been used by Satanists for centuries, but this sigil of sulfur right here first appeared in San Francisco in the 1960s. If this guy is supposed to be from the 1930s, why is it here?"

"How do you know all this?" Piper laughed, surprised that there was so much information in her cousin's head, "You could never hold a math equation in your head."

"Math would never have helped me," Dean shrugged his shoulders, "But knowing stuff like this? Well, let's just say it's saved my ass a couple of times."

Going back to the symbols, Dean continued to survey them. While there were plenty of symbols that linked to demon worshiping, there were others from all types of religions. Others weren't even religious—not that he knew of anyway.

"Hey, does this look familiar to you?" Dean asked, pointing at an upside down question mark with a horizontal line through the middle of it. Piper joined her cousin, wrapping her coat around her. This place was starting to give her the creeps.

"No, sorry," she said, "Have you?"

"Somewhere." Dean nodded his head, but was cut off at the sound of a door opening. He instantly reached for his gun at the back of his jeans, as he saw a tall man with dark brown hair walk in, a blonde haired girl behind him.

"Who are you?" The man asked, his own gun raised. The blonde looked around, and Dean instantly rolled his eyes.

"Jo, what are you doing here?"

"Well, I could ask you the same thing, cowboy." Jo smirked at the hunter, folding her arms across her chest.

"You know these two, Jo?" The man asked, making Jo roll her brown eyes at him.

"Yes, this is Dean and his cousin Piper," Jo explained, before pointing at the man in front, "This is my cousin Cal. He's called me about this place and thought we should check it out. I wasn't expecting you to be here. How did you hear about it?"

"A friend," Dean frowned, eyeing the dark-haired man carefully. There was something about him that he didn't trust—maybe it was the fact that he was with Jo. He didn't even know there were other hunters in her family since her dad had died. But now wasn't the time for this drama, "Hey, do you recognize this symbol at all?"

Jo's boots sounded loud over the wooden floor, as she walked over to join the two witches. Running her hand over the symbol, she screwed up her face, "That's paint. Pretty fresh."

Rolling his eyes, Dean sighed, "I hate to agree with authority figures of any kind, but the cops might be right about this one."

"There's EMF everywhere." Cal shook his head, as if pointing out that that was the big reason to stay around. Piper laughed out loud once, while Dean looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"You didn't see the power lines outside? Some hunter you are."

"Dean…" Jo warned him, before turning around to Cal, "Maybe he's right. This paint is fresh and these mix match of symbols are…"

A scratching sound from another room caught their attention. This time Dean did draw his gun from the back of his jeans, inching towards the door that the noise had come from. Cal had followed suit, and Piper had her hands ready just in case. At least the other two would freeze if she had to use her powers.

Dean and Cal looked at each other and then back at Jo. With a single nod, Dean kicked the door open, instantly hit by bright lights shining at him. Instantly, there was shouting and screaming, and Dean could just about make out one guy's voice say, "It's just a coupla humans!"

Putting the arm down that had helped to block some of the light from his eyes, Dean glared at the group of teenagers in the house. There were three of them—two boys and a girl—and he instantly rolled his eyes. With the cameras and various electrical equipment, Dean couldn't help but get the idea that they were a bunch of kids looking for a ghost to capture on cameras.

"What are you guys doing here?" One of the guys asked, lowering his camera with a frown. The Asian girl behind them folded her arms and rolled her eyes.

"What are..." Dean shook his head but bit his tongue, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"We belong here," the first guy said, pushing his glasses up his face before digging into his thick coat pocket, "We're professionals." He handed him a business card as Jo laughed at them.

"Professional what?"

"Paranormal Investigators," the second guy now said, watching as Dean took a card and then showed it to Piper, "Take a look at that."

"Oh you gotta be kidding me!" Dean rolled his eyes, as Piper chuckled.

"Ed and Maggie Zeddmore and Harry Spangler?" Piper smirked, but then frowned at something, " . You guys run that website?"

"Yeah." Ed, the one with the glasses, nodded his head.

"And we know who you guys are, too." Maggie pointed at the four of them, a smirk forming on her face.

"Oh yeah?" Cal asked, eyebrows raised, waiting for an answer. As soon as she said they were amateurs, there was a mixture of reactions from the group. Dean rolled his eyes and started walking out of the room. Piper and Jo folded their arms, slightly offended at the name. Cal just laughed at them, knowing the truth.

"You guys are just looking for ghosts and cheap thrills." Ed agreed with Maggie—who Piper assumed was his half sister or something—while Harry waved them out of the room.

"Now if you don't mind, we're trying to conduct a serious scientific investigation here."

"Whatcha got so far?" Jo asked, tilting her head to one side just to see how far they'd gotten. Dean had disappeared in another room, fed up of hearing the garbage spewing out of their mouths.

"Why doncha tell 'em about EMF, Harry?" Ed suggested, while the hunters all played dumb hearing the term. It convinced the group of teenagers to share more, as they believed they knew the secrets.

"Electromagnetic field," Harry grinned, while Maggie smirked at the hunters from behind the two boys, "Spectral entities can cause energy fluctuations that can be read with an EMF detector, like this bad boy right here."

Harry held up his device, and Piper couldn't help but smirk, "Have you tried it out yet?"

The dark haired boy turned on his detector, surprised at the sudden energy spikes from it. It was at 2.8 and that definitely meant it was hot in here. Piper couldn't help but whistle in pretend admiration, while she looked behind her at Dean. He was watching them from the other room, while Piper held the door open for him, and couldn't help but laugh at the boys' attempts at looking professional. Maybe to civilians, they would be able to scam people but to hunters, they knew nothing.

"So, have you guys ever seen a real ghost before?" Jo pretended to flirt with them. Ed couldn't help but tell her a story of a trip to a haunted house where they saw—well, no, they heard—a vase fall off a table on its own, "Wow! I'm sure something like that really changes you."

Ed gulped at the blonde-haired girl getting closer to them, eyes wide at the idea of someone coming onto him. He always knew that ghosts were a turn on.

"Hey, maybe we should go," Dean shouted from the other room, "Let them get back to work."

"Yeah, you should." Maggie now nodded, hitting Ed over the head as Jo turned and walked back out of the room.

"Piper, Cal." Dean called out to the other two, as they smirked and then walked away.

* * *

Adam and Phoebe stood in front of the older woman, as she read through her book. It didn't take long for the sound of the front door to the apartment opening and closing to be heard through the apartment.

"Timmy, is that you?" the mother looked up from her book, but didn't turn around. Adam watched as a 17-year-old with dark hair walked into the room. His suit jacket made him look much older, but his typical backpack reminded Adam that he was just in high school.

"Yeah, Mom it's me," the boy said, making his way through the apartment. Placing his bag on the floor, he sat on a chair and loosened his school tie off, "I was wondering something. There's a dance at school on Friday night, could I go to it?"

"Is that _boy_ going to be there?" There was a distaste in her voice, and Phoebe couldn't help but frown at the conversation. Timmy sighed, and mumbled about the boy going to the same school, so it was likely. The mother shook her head, taking her glasses off and closing them in her hand. She looked much younger without the pink frames surrounding her face, "I don't trust that boy. I just don't like him."

"It wouldn't have anything to do with his lifestyle, would it?"

"Of course!" the mother exclaimed, "I don't like the way he has you questioning my decisions. You're not going. Now, tell me all about school today."

Phoebe and Adam couldn't help but look at each other, mouths open wide, as the whole situation unfolded. This was definitely one poor kid, and now the idea of him killing her certainly made some sense.

* * *

Dean and Cal looked through the research surrounding them, while they waited for the girls to get back with dinner. Dean had agreed to working with Jo's cousin, but only because they couldn't agree on who got their first. It was just a shame that Dean hadn't done more research at home. He soon realized that the ghost story that Craig had told him wasn't completely true.

"Hey, you know there isn't a Mordechai Murdock, but a Martin Murdock lived in that farmhouse," Cal looked up from his laptop with a frown, "Looks like the kids love embellishing their tales, too. He did have kids, but two and both boys. No evidence he killed anyone. You get anything yet?"

"Just that dead girl," Dean sighed, "Well, lack of the dead girl. No matching missing persons. It's like she never existed."

Dean shut his laptop and placed it to the side of him on the bed, before getting off and pouring himself a glass of whiskey from the bottle he'd picked up earlier that day. Motioning the bottle to Cal, he silently offered a glass. Cal nodded, and waited for Dean to pour him some whiskey in the motel's questionably clean glasses, "I'm starting to wonder whether those Hell Hounds guys have made up the whole thing. Maybe we should find a bar, get some beers and leave the legends to the locals."

"That would sound like a very good plan, my friend." Cal nodded with a chuckle, clinking glasses with the unlikely friends, just as the door to the motel opened. Piper and Jo walked in, animatedly talking, making the two men raise their eyebrows.

"Please tell me you have..."

"I got you pie, Dean," Jo smirked with a roll of her eyes. As she handed him two of the brown takeout bags, they kissed chastely on the lips, "How could I ever forget the pie with the bacon cheeseburger."

"You're getting to know me too well, Jo." Dean laughed as he shook his head. She couldn't help but throw a comment about hunting with him for a while; it helped to pick up habits. Of course it did. Dean still knew many of Jo's habits.

"So, how's the research going?" Piper now asked, handing Cal a brown takeout bag, before sitting next to him with hers. While the two boys tucked into their burgers (and later pie), Piper and Jo tucked into salads and wraps, opting for the healthier of options.

As Cal explained that there was nothing, and a bar may be their best option before heading back home, the police scanner sounded with an alert. It turned out the farmhouse was the location of another teen call. While the hunters wanted to ignore it, they knew that doing so would only lead to regret later, especially if something really had happened. Quickly taking bites of their food, all four of them headed out of the motel room and back down to the Impala, deciding one car between them was easier.

By the time they got up to the farmhouse, emergency vehicles were pulled in, their lights still flashing. Men were moving around, with a body being pulled out on a stretcher. Dean quickly glanced around to find a uniformed police officer standing by the police tape. Grabbing one of his IDs, he made his way through a small crowd of people to get to the police.

"What happened?" Dean asked, holding up his badge for the officer to see. Cal made his way behind Dean, while the young officer rattled off the night's events.

"A girl hung herself in the house."

"Suicide?" Cal asked, taken aback by the actual death in the house. They'd thought it was all a joke—a legend—but now it seemed like something may be going on.

"Yeah, friends say she was a straight A student, full ride to Stanford. Doesn't make sense if you ask me." The cop said, shaking his head. The two hunters nodded their heads, before making their way back to Piper and Jo, who were waiting patiently by the car.

"Well? Anything?" Piper asked, not sure what she was hoping for.

"I think we definitely missed something in there." Dean nodded his head, glancing over at Cal. The shorter hunter nodded his head, glancing across to Jo. All had matching worried looks in their eyes, as they realized the Hell Hounds kids hadn't made everything up.

* * *

The scene around Adam and Phoebe changed, but it wasn't that far into the future. Just a night, as Timmy walked in holding hands with a young blonde-haired boy. They stopped at the front door, the young boy giving Timmy a kiss goodnight. It was only then that the lamp in the living room was turned on, alerting both boys, Adam and Phoebe that the mother was still in the room.

"What do you think you are doing?" the mother spoke lowly, "You realize you are going to Hell for that."

"Mom..." Timmy started, but then shook his head and looked at the boy, "I'll see you on Monday?" The boy nodded his head, and then walked away, allowing Timmy to shut the door and have this conversation with his mother in private.

"You are never to see that boy again," the mother told him, "I told you I didn't trust him. Look at what he's done to my poor boy. Sneaking out, disobeying me and now...this..."

"I'm sick of this!" Timmy shouted at his mother, "I just can't be who I really am. Why can't you accept that I like boys? He's not changed me. This is the way I've always been."

"If your father was still alive..." the mother started, but Timmy cut her off.

"He'd probably think the same, but Dad was always the stricter of you two. Ever since he died, you've tried to be him. But you're my mom, you're supposed to support me and be happy for me."

"I will not have a fag in my house!" the mother shouted, "No, I can't have it. You'll go to Hell if I let you stay like this." The mother started looking around, before standing and grabbing a small notebook from the drawer by the couch. Timmy watched her with a frown.

"What are you doing?"

It was soon clear just what she was going to do. She was looking for a phone number, one to send Timmy away to help "cure" him. Adam covered his mouth as Phoebe placed her hand on her chest. This mother was going to send her son to some camp for being gay. She shook her head, while Timmy tried to stop her.

"Mom, wait."

"No, you can't...I can't allow this but it's okay. There's help out there." She said, as she walked into the kitchen. Nobody really acknowledge the knife sitting on the breakfast bar, not really believing that it was important.

"Mom, if you do this, I will never forgive you," Timmy shouted at her, as she picked up the phone, "This isn't something that you can 'cure,' there's nothing wrong with me. Liam said that..."

"I don't care what Liam said, or what he believes. I know this is wrong for you," the mother turned, tears forming in her eyes, "Pastor Stephen can help you. He will..."

"No!" Timmy shouted, placing his hand on the breakfast bar. It was then that Phoebe knew just how it was all going to play out. The 17-year-old grabbed the knife and held it up above his head without really thinking, "I'm gay. There's nothing wrong with that."

Before the mother could do anything, Timmy held up the knife and slashed it downwards. The mother couldn't even scream as the knife connected with her chest, stabbing her in the heart. Phoebe shrieked, her hands going to her mouth just as it happened. Even though she had an idea of how it was going to play out, it was still a shock to see it. Adam's eyes widened in shock. All he could do was watch as the mother's body dropped to the floor, her dark eyes lifeless.

Timmy released his grip on the knife as his mother's body fell. With a step back, he just watched in shock. He'd done it. He'd actually killed his mother.

"Mom?" He asked quietly, not expecting to actually get an answer from her. Timmy instantly went into panic mode. What was he supposed to do now? How was he going to cover up this mess? He'd go to prison. There's no way he'd be able to get out of it. Looking around the apartment, he took in all his options. He could drag her body out of the house, but people might see. There were too many others in this building. What could he do?

* * *

Dean slammed the door to the motel room, making others in the room jump. He'd gone back to the farmhouse with Cal, while Piper and Jo got on with their research. They needed to find out who the ghost could be, considering a person had really died this time; body found and everything.

"Cops are all over the place," Dean told them, shrugging his worn leather jacket off his shoulders and onto the even more worn chair in the motel room. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he ran his hands through his hair with a deep sigh, staring at a spot on the carpet. He knew exactly what he could do, but it would make it difficult with two hunters around.

Looking up at Piper, he frowned before flicking his wrist. Jo and Cal both froze on the spot, and Piper knew it was so they could talk magic.

"What do you wanna do?" Piper asked.

"I wanted to freeze the cops and get in there, but I can't have hunters on our tail," Dean shook his head, "Jo has no idea and...well...I'm not sure how long Cal woulda stayed frozen."

"Okay, so the two of us go," Piper nodded her head, in full agreement of the plan, "We need to get back in that house."

"What do we tell Jo and Cal?" Dean asked, pointing over at the frozen people. It would have been so much easier if he could have told Jo the truth a while ago. He could have told her what he was doing right now, so only Cal would be in the dark. It would have been so much easier. Why did Jo have to come on this hunt with Cal?

"We'll think of something," Piper shrugged her shoulders, getting back in position on her chair before Dean flicked his wrists again. Jo and Cal acted as if nothing had happened—to them no time had passed, "Hey, how about we go back out, Dean? I think I have an idea."

"Do you want us to come?" Jo asked, looking between the two cousins, hope filling her brown eyes. Dean shook his head with a frown, saying something about being safe here. As they walked out, Jo threw an offended look over to her own cousin, "He really didn't like me getting kidnapped on our last hunt."

"Good," Cal warned her, "I've always said hunting is too dangerous for you."

* * *

It didn't take Dean and Piper long to get back to the farmhouse. They hid in the bushes, looking at the two police officers standing by the door.

"So, we freeze them and get into the house," Piper explained, "Once we're in the cops aren't likely to bother us."

"If they do, we can just keep freezing them," Dean nodded his head, "Let's do this."

Just before Piper was about to flick her own wrists to do the freezing this time, Dean grabbed her hands, "I don't believe this."

As she looked over to where he was pointing, she groaned. Ed, Harry and Maggie were all hiding in the bushes, kitted out in various gadgets, and not being the stealthiest ghost hunters out there. They were giving hunters a bad name, all for the sake of some stupid website. With a groan, Piper held her hand to her eyes.

"It'll still work," Piper said, knowing that the three teenagers were in range of her freezing power. By using it more than Dean, she had a larger range already. With a flick of her wrists, she froze the mortals and looked over at Dean with a grin, "Let's go."

What they hadn't realized was that Jo and Cal had decided to follow the two witches after all. They'd got to the farmhouse, just as Piper used her magical powers. Cal had stepped just inside the boundary, but Jo was outside Piper's range and watched it all happen.

"Cal?" Jo asked, stepping in front of her now frozen cousin. Frowning, she glanced over to the farmhouse, seeing Dean and Piper run past the frozen cops, "Witches? No!"

* * *

Dean pulled out his rifle out of his duffel bag once he was inside the house, while Piper held the flashlight so they could easily make their way through the farmhouse. Dean once again stopped at one of the symbols with a frown. The placement of it was killing him. He knew he'd seen it before, but he'd have known if it was a symbol. His dad had made sure he remembered all the various magical, mythical and religious symbols. They never knew what they'd come up against while hunting, and it was always better to be ready.

This wasn't anything that he remembered from the books. Or maybe he just remembered so many that he couldn't place this specific one.

"C'mon, we don't have long." Piper cut Dean's thought process off. Grumbling, he followed her through the farmhouse and to the basement door. The Halliwell witch stopped with a shudder, making Dean chuckle.

"Still put off by basements?" He asked with a laugh, before stepping in front of her and opening the door. Grabbing her hand, he led her into the basement.

"I don't like ghosts, either." Piper pointed out that fact, making Dean question why she even came along for a hunt if she didn't want to face the spirits and nasties that came with hunting. Once they were at the bottom of the stairs, Dean let go of his cousin's hand and looked around at the various jars of strange items. One of them was full of red liquid that Dean couldn't help pick up and slosh around.

Grinning, he held it up to Piper, "I dare you to drink this."

"Why would I do something like that?" Piper asked, shaking her head with a disgusted look on her face. Of course, she couldn't help but see the funny side of it. Dean glanced at it again, and then looked back at his cousin.

"I double dare ya."

With a role of her eyes, Piper looked away from her cousin and continued looking for any signs that there had been a ghost here. Dean's grin faltered when he heard a noise behind him. Both witches jumped around and moved towards a creaky cabinet door. Just as they opened it, a rat squeaked and ran from Piper's torchlight, making Piper shriek.

"I hate rats!"

"You'd rather see a ghost?" Dean asked, reminding her of the earlier comment about not liking ghosts.

"Actually, yes!" Piper laughed at the comment, but Dean couldn't find the funny side of it. Just behind Piper, Mordechai appeared. Dean's eyes widened, as he shouted at Piper to duck and then fired off his rifle. It didn't do anything. Mordechai just looked down at his chest, and then back at the two witches.

"Piper, run!" Dean told her, firing off his rifle again. Just like before, nothing happened. Mordechai raised his axe above his head, making Piper scream and run towards the stairs. The axe hit the floor where Piper had previously stood, making Dean's eyes grow wider. If Piper had been there...no, he wasn't going to think of that right now. He needed to get out of the house. Rushing past the shelves of jars, Dean fired off a final round, just hoping that it would slow the ghost—was it even a ghost?—down. All Mordechai did was swing his axe again, this time smashing into the shelves, sending the jars crashing down on top of Dean.

"Dean!" Piper shrieked, just as Jo rushed to the top of the stairs.

"What the hell?" Jo shouted, just as Piper flicked her wrists and Mordechai froze on the spot. Dean just glanced at the ghost, then at Piper and Jo, "What the hell was that? What are you two?"

"We need to get out of here." Dean said, pulling Piper up the stairs. As he reached the top, he grabbed Jo's hand, just as Mordechai unfroze. All they could hear was him shouting in anger, as they ran out of the house, past the now unfrozen police officers, teenagers and Cal.

* * *

Adam and Phoebe just watched as Timmy walked in with his new purchase. They had no idea what it was, but they had an idea. The mother's body was now in the bath, Timmy avoiding any suspicion by keeping it on ice. He couldn't keep doing that, though.

Dropping his heavy package on the living room floor, Timmy looked at the closet, surveying the place before he started. Over the last couple of days, Timmy had bought other items, going out and only spending cash to make sure there was no trail. Opening one of the packages, Timmy rolled out the plastic. It would be perfect for wrapping his mother up, hopefully eliminating some of the smell of a rotting corpse.

Over the next few hours, Adam and Phoebe watched as Timmy moved his mother's lifeless body into the closet and then made a new wall inside, trapping the body and bloody knife inside it. There would be no reason for anybody to think she was anywhere in the house.

Finally, the room span and the two witches just stared at the closet in Adam's dorm room. Everything was back to normal, except for the truth that they now knew.

"I'm living with a skeleton!" Adam looked at Phoebe with wide eyes.

* * *

Standing outside the motel room, Jo just glared at Dean, "I can't believe you...you're...no..."

"Look, witches aren't all bad," Dean tried to talk himself out of this situation. This wasn't how he'd wanted her to find out about his family secret. Really, he'd wanted to sit down and explain it to her, not for her to find out by seeing them freeze something, "They're...we're good. We protect innocents..."

"You're not human, Dean," Jo shook her head, narrowing her eyes, "You've seen some of the creepy ass things out there. Witches put hexes on people. They kill..."

"Not all of them..."

"They sell their souls!" Jo cut him off, unwilling to listen to his argument, "And you're telling me as a hunter that you're okay with your family selling their souls for magic? You're such a hypocrite, Dean!"

Turning on the spot, Jo started walking towards her motel room. She needed away from Dean, as far away as possible. But Dean wasn't going to let her go that easily.

"That's the thing, we haven't," Dean grabbed her arm, pulling her back to him. This wasn't just about keeping his family's secret, but helping Jo understand that witches could be good, "Trust me. When I found out we were witches, I freaked. I...Hell, Jo, I contemplated binding my powers again. I woulda done if it wasn't for all the innocents I've saved."

"It's unnatural, Dean." Jo shrugged her arm out of Dean's grasp, turning back to walk to towards her motel room.

"Jo..."

Jo turned back on the spot, glaring at the man she had previously called her boyfriend. That was well and truly over, "Don't call me. Don't come anywhere near me. I can't believe I ever trusted you!"

With that, she left, slamming the door to her motel room closed. Dean was left to run his hand through his hair, cursing out loud at the situation.

"She'll come round." Piper said, behind her cousin. He wished that was true, but he knew Jo—like most hunters she would continue to believe that witches were unnatural, evil creatures. And why shouldn't she? She'd seen nothing to believe the contrary, and Dean had kept his family secret under lock and key. Maybe if he'd had a chance to tell her, explain everything to her, things would be different. Instead, she'd found out by seeing them use their powers. It wasn't just about the shock of learning the truth, but also the betrayal.

Shaking his head, Dean decided that now wasn't the time to dwell on that. Turning to face his cousin, he nodded and then walked back to their motel room, "I think I know what we're dealing with. Ever heard of tulpas?"

"What's that?" Piper asked, shaking her head while she quickly tried to keep up with Dean. His longer legs made it much harder when he was in a rush. Closing the door to the motel room behind her, Dean took a seat by his laptop and quickly typed something into a search engine.

"They're Tibetan thought forms," Dean quickly explained while he typed, "I was trying to figure out what type of spirit is immune to salt. Trust me, there isn't one. So, I started thinking about other things. There was a symbol in the house that stood out—not the one that's driving me nuts—but another one that I didn't quite click on until now."

Piper took a seat next to her cousin, while she glanced at the laptop. He pulled up a search listing, showing it to Piper so she could see it clearly, "In 1915, there was an incident in Tibet. A group of monks visualized a golem in their heads. They meditated on it so hard that they brought it to life. That was just 20 monks."

"Okay..."

"Well, think about what 10,000 visitors to one website could do," Dean chuckled, "Craig clearly started this story and it spread. It went online, and now thousands of people believe it. To top that off, there's this symbol..."

Dean pulled up one of the symbols on the Hell Hounds website, one that Piper knew she'd seen in the house. Dean quickly explained how it was a Tibetan spirit sigil, and easily helped this tupla form, "This symbol has been used for centuries, concentrating meditative thoughts like a magnifying glass. Imagine what would happen if people are staring at this sigil, thinking about Mordechai..."

"He'd come to life," Piper nodded his head, "And he'd keep changing as the legend chain. So, the rock salt doesn't work because he's not quite a spirit."

"Exactly." Dean nodded his head with a grin. He was glad that Piper could at least jump onto his train of thought. It was one thing they'd been able to do for years.

"Okay, so can be get rid of the sigil and..."

"No," Dean knew where she was going with that, and decided to cut off the train of thought, "Tulpas take on a life of their own once they're created. And these guys really aren't helping this whole thing."

"What the hell did you do to my cousin?" Cal shouted, as he walked into the motel room, glaring at Dean. The two witches raised their eyebrows, almost ready to attack, "She's crying her eyes out, and I've never seen Jo like that about a boy. You're really done a number, Winchester."

"Wait, she didn't tell you?" Dean asked with a frown, surprised that she didn't tell his secret to another hunter, especially one in her family.

"Of course she didn't!" Cal rolled his eyes, "Like she'd tell me anything. But I know you've done something because she's cursing your name like a banshie. So, what did you do?"

"Look, man," Dean sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, "I just..."

"He thought he was doing the right thing," Piper quickly covered for her cousin, realizing he was drowning in creating this lie, "He doesn't want her getting hurt, and suggested she go home. Things got a little nasty. He didn't mean it."

Cal frowned, glancing at Piper and then over to Dean, "Jo wouldn't cry over something like that. She definitely wouldn't start packing. She'd stick her stubborn ass in trouble."

"Well, there were some harsh words said," Dean sighed, "Look, I'm sorry but we've gotta go. We think we know what we're dealing with, and I need to get to those idiot teenagers before this gets any worse."

"The teenagers?" Cal asked, taking his mind off his cousin's situation for now, "What have they got to do with any of this?"

"Ever heard of tulpas?" Piper asked, and grinned when she saw the tall, dark-haired man shake his head, "Oh, well, you're in for a ride."

"You're not coming," Dean shook his head, "You need to make sure Jo gets home safe."

"Oh hell no!" Cal shook his head, "I'm seeing this hunt through."

Dean glared at Piper, making it clear that this was partially her fault. Throwing an apologetic look his way, she turned to Cal with a grin, "Shotgun."

* * *

The two hunters and the witch reached the trailer park in record time, and soon found the trailer that belonged to the teenage wannabe ghost hunters. It wasn't hard when they saw Hell Hounds plastered all over it.

They could hear shouting in the trailer, making Dean roll his eyes. This was going to be fun, "Let's get this over with."

Bashing on the door, he could hear more arguing and panicking on the other side of the door. It was clear they were nervous about something, but Dean couldn't tell whether they were up to something or whether it was to do with the night before. They'd had to have seen something when Dean dragged Jo and Piper out of the farmhouse and everything started unfreezing.

"Who is it?" Harry shouted through the door, making Piper chuckle.

"C'mon guys," she tried her calm voice to encourage them out, "We know you're in there. We just wanna talk."

As they opened the door, Dean couldn't help but get a glance into the trailer. As he expected, there were action figures in their original packaging. These were just a group of geeks looking for thrills and college tuition money, maybe sex—with real people.

"Sorry guys, um, we're a little busy right now." Ed said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"It's okay, we'll make this quick," Dean grinned, "You need to shut your little website down."

Dean knew that it wasn't going to be that easy. The teenagers put up a fight, claiming to have gotten busted the night before. The police had come across them while looking for Dean, Jo and Piper, sure that they'd somehow gotten into the house.

"Look, thanks to your website, thousands of people are hearing about Mordechai," Cal tried a different tactic to get the three teenagers to play along, "People will keep going to Hell House, and they could get seriously hurt."

"Yeah, yeah." Ed rolled his eyes, but Maggie placed her hand on her step-brother's arm.

"Ed, maybe he has a point..."

"Nope..." Ed shook his head, looking at his best friend for backup.

"We have an obligation to our fans, to the truth." Harry explained, making Dean roll his eyes. He really wanted to kick their asses right now, maybe that would do the trick.

"Hey, Dean, let's just forget it, man," Cal pulled the witch away, "These guys...like I could probably tell them that thing about Mordechai, but they're still not gonna help us. Let's just go."

"Yeah, Cal's right. C'mon, Dean." Piper pulled her cousin away. He agreed, nodding his head but was reluctant in doing it. While they walked back towards the Impala, the three teenagers quickly rushed out of their trailer. The hurried steps down the metal stairs of the trailer told them that they were getting out as fast as possible.

"What thing about Mordechai?" Harry asked, but Dean instructed Cal not to say anything.

"But they might agree to shut down the website." Cal pointed out, trying not to smirk as he realized that Dean's plan was working perfectly.

"Wait, wait. We'll do it."

"It's a secret, though." Piper told the boys, but Cal sighed and turned to face the three teenagers. He was going to let out the secret.

"It's a really big deal, all right. Not easy to dig up at all," Cal explained, "So, we need your word that you'll shut everything down."

"Totally." Maggie nodded her head, the two boys behind her nodding enthusiastically. Cal looked over at Dean, who rolled his eyes before handing over some paperwork from his jacket inside pocket.

"It's a death certificate from the 30s," Cal explained, "We got it at the library. According to the coroner, the actual cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound."

The teenagers looked at the paperwork and then up at the three adults. Dean couldn't help but smirk, "That's right, he didn't hang or cut himself.

"He shot himself?" Maggie's jaw was wide, as she looked up at the female witch. Piper nodded her head, explaining how he's now terrified of .45 pistols.

"In fact, if you shoot him with a .45 with special wrought-iron rounds, they say it'll kill the sonovabitch." Dean added in the last part, and just watched as the three teenagers jumped up and down excitedly, before taking the paperwork back to the trailer with them. The three adults just looked at each other, knowing that they'd done just the right amount of pushing to get that information on the website.

* * *

"So, I'm guessing Timmy killed himself when the guilt of everything took over." Adam sighed, still staring at the closet. He'd always wondered why there wasn't the whole space based on the size of the wall, but he'd put the question to the back of his mind, presuming it was something to do with the building. Now he knew there was a skeleton behind there.

"That would make sense," Phoebe nodded her head, "What are you going to do about this?"

Adam sighed. There wasn't much that he could do. He needed to get the body out of there, so the woman could be laid to rest properly; meaning he needed to make sure he could salt and burn the bones. He'd need his brothers' help for that, though, especially Dean. Of course, somehow he'd need to get his roommate...

"You know, I've only just thought but my roommate looks a lot like..."

"Timmy?" A voice behind the two witches cut Adam off. They turned around to face Adam's roommate. They hadn't even heard him walk in, but they soon realized that a bit of magic had been used. The roommate was Timmy, just with a bit of magic to make him look a little different, "I realized you were a witch when you could see me. I was hoping you'd be able to figure out what I did one day."

"You're a ghost? My roommate is a ghost?" Adam asked, pointing at his roommate. Timmy nodded his head, with a small smile.

"I've not been able to move on from this place," Timmy explained, "I wanted my mother's body found and I've been trying to hold off her angry spirit. The two of us here together seems to balance it out enough to prevent her from causing too many problems."

The two witches just watched in awe, as Timmy waved and then disappeared on the spot. Phoebe turned to her cousin with a grin, "Well, I bet you beat a lot of other college stories. I'm sure Prue, Piper and Sam never had a story like this."

* * *

Dean and Piper knew that they would have to ditch Cal at some point so they would be able to get back into the house. Luckily, Jo had called to say that she was going to drive home and leave him if he didn't come back with her. Dean had made it very clear that Jo would need a friend—or family member that he'd not heard of until that weekend—for the drive back and he and Piper would be able to handle Mordechai.

With Cal gone, Dean had been able to freeze the police so the two witches could get into the old house. The problem was as soon as they got into the house, they ran into two sets of bright lights and a camera. The three teenagers were in the goddamn house, too.

"What the hell are you kids doing here?" Piper asked them, throwing her hands up in the air, "Are you trying to get yourselves killed?"

"We're just trying to get a book and movie deal, okay?" Ed pointed towards the camera Maggie was holding, just as they heard the sound of knives being sharpened. The two witches were instantly on alert, while the three teenagers looked at each other.

"Oh crap!" Maggie shuffled towards Harry, who was inching close to the two adults in the room.

"Ah guys, you wanna...you wanna open that door for us?" Harry asked, looking between Dean and Piper. The Winchester witch just laughed, pointing towards the door, "Why don't you?"

Before anyone could open the door, Mordechai burst through the door, making the three teenagers scream at the top of their lungs. Piper shrieked, but kept her composure long enough to pull out the small pistol her cousin had given her and shoot at the legend. Dean followed suit, expecting the fake spirit to disappear.

Mordechai turned to mist, giving the two witches a chance to get the three teenagers out of the room.

"Oh, God! He's gone!" Ed sighed with relief, although speaking quickly to show that he was still a bag of nerves. Harry quickly followed him out, pulling Maggie along with him.

"Did you get him?" Harry was asking, as they left.

"They got him." Ed pointed out, but quickly realized that Harry wasn't talking to him. He was talking to Maggie, and referencing the camera in her hand.

"I...ah..." Maggie held out the camera for Harry to take it. Just as he opened the lens to play back the tape, Mordechai appeared again, slamming his axe down. The axe sliced through the camera, knocking it right out of the dark-haired teen's hands. All Harry could do was look up at the spirit and scream, just before it disappeared once more.

"Hey! Didn't you guys post that B.S. story we gave you?"

"Of course we did!" Maggie shouted at the two adults, as Dean aimed his gun towards the door to the basement, "But...um...our server crashed."

"So, it didn't work?" Piper asked, putting her hands up to her forehead.

"So, these damn guns don't work!" Dean growled, scaring the three teenagers a little more than the vengeful, axe-wielding legend.

"Any ideas, Dean?" Piper asked, thinking back to the last time a plan didn't quite work out. Dean had to think on his feet, and it didn't quite work that well.

"Yeah, get outta here." Dean pulled Piper towards the door, pushing the three teenagers along with them. As soon as they got to the door, they found it was locked. There was no escape.

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph." Harry crossed himself in a panic, as Dean and Piper looked around their surroundings. With the three kids here, there was no way that they could use their powers to at least temporarily freeze Mordechai.

Speaking of the legend, the man was walking towards them again, axe in hand and ready to strike. Ed kept changing "The power of Christ compels you," hoping that it would do something, but there was nothing.

Quickly coming up with a plan, Dean pulled out a bottle of kerosene from his duffel bag and handed it to Piper, "Pour it everywhere. I'll keep chop shop busy."

"What are you gonna..." Piper started to ask, just as Dean rushed towards the man.

"Come and get it you fugly son of a bitch!" He shouted, making Piper throw up her hands. The man was going to get himself killed, all for the sake of saving innocents.

"You three get outta here, now!" Piper instructed the teenagers, before pouring kerosene everywhere she could. She barely registered the fight in the dark between Dean and Mordechai.

While Piper got to work, Dean found himself in a losing battle. He was pushed up against the wall, and could feel the axe blocking his windpipe. If he didn't find a way out of this soon, he'd pass out from lack of oxygen. As his feet left the ground, his eyes looked everywhere for something—anything.

"Piper!" Dean managed to gasp out, making his cousin turn to face him.

"Dean!" Piper rushed over to them, hitting the back of Mordechai with her clenched fists. It didn't do much, but it distracted him long enough for Dean to swing his left leg out and kick Mordechai's knee. The man let him go, making him crash hard to the floor.

"Go!" Dean told Piper, getting to his feet and then pushing her towards the door. The door was still locked, the teenagers standing by it waiting for some sort of divine intervention. Dean rolled his eyes turned back to Mordechai. Rushing back, he kicked the legend in the back, making him roll over. It was enough to release the axe, so Dean could grab it and start to break down the door with it.

When Dean was running out of time, Piper did the only thing she could think of. She flicked her wrists and froze everything around her.

"Piper, exposure!" Dean growled.

"What are they gonna remember?" Piper looked at the three teenagers, "Their camera is gone."

Dean glanced at the kids, before shrugging his shoulders and finishing the battle against the door. Finally, the hole was big enough for them all to get out, so Piper flicked her wrists to unfreeze the scene.

"Now, get out!" Dean shouted at the teens, getting them to leave first. Piper was next, and Dean turned to face Mordechai.

"What are you doing?" Piper asked, as Dean pulled out a box of matches from his pocket. It had the motel logo on them, making it clear that Dean had picked them up earlier as a 'just in case' item.

"Mordechai can't leave the house, we can't kill him," Dean explained, "So, we improvise."

And with that, Dean flicked the matches across the book, lighting multiples. Dropping the matches on the floor, he, Piper and the teenagers rushed away from the now burning building.

"Hey!" The police were shouting from the other side of the wood, where they'd previously been frozen. Dean wasn't sure how long they'd been unfrozen, but he wasn't going to question it right now. He and Piper took off to the Impala, while the teenagers heading in the opposite direction.

"That's your solution? Burn the damn place to the ground?" Piper asked, climbing into the passenger seat as Dean started up his Baby. He backed out of his spot before hitting the road back to the motel.

"Nobody will go in anymore, and Mordechai can't haunt a house if there's no house to haunt. It's fast and dirty, but it works."

"And if the legend changes?" Piper asked, "What if Mordechai is allowed to leave?"

"Well, then we'll just have to come back." Dean shrugged his shoulders.

Piper could see the flames high in the sky in the wing mirror on the car. While they drove back to the motel and then back to San Francisco, she couldn't help but wonder just how many things they'd faced existed just because people believed enough in them.

* * *

By the time Dean and Piper got back home, it was time for everyone in the house to get up. Unsurprisingly, the coffee was brewing, and Andy was looking through paperwork at the kitchen table. He looked up with a smile seeing the two witches walk into the house.

"How was your hunt?"

"Interesting," Piper nodded her head, "Turned out that it only existed because people believed in it."

"People believed in what?" Sam asked, as he walked into the kitchen, followed closely by Prue. The coffee machine was done, and Sam got to work pouring cups for everyone in the room.

"Oh, the spirit we were hunting," Dean shrugged his shoulders. His phone buzzed, making him check it out. He couldn't help but chuckle as he looked at the message, "Well, Ed, Harry and Maggie are on their way into Hollywood today to see some director."

"How do you know?"

"Cal just text. He said he called them to let them know some big producer had found their website, and really wanted to option the movie rights." Dean chuckled, making Piper laugh at the comment. Everyone else in the room just looked at each other, realizing that they'd missed something while the two cousins had been away.

While they laughed, Phoebe and Adam walked in, chatting animatedly about something. Prue looked up at her youngest sister and cousin, frowning, "Why were you on the couch this morning?"

"It turns out my dorm room is haunted," Adam sighed, "And I just didn't feel right sleeping there last night. Hey, Dean, fancy helping me knock down a wall to get a skeleton and burn it?"

Confused, Dean just looked over to Phoebe, who made it clear to go with it. With a shrug, he agreed as long as Adam bought him a drink for it.

"There is something I need to talk to everyone about, though," Dean sighed, thinking about drinks led him to think about the Roadhouse, "Jo found out the family secret."

"Really?" Sam grinned, thinking that his brother had told her. When he saw the looks on Dean's and Piper's faces, his own smile dropped and he frowned, "She didn't take it so well, then?"

"No," Dean shook his head, "She didn't tell her cousin, but she didn't want to talk to me."

"She'll come round, Dean," Andy sighed, "I did."

If only it was that easy, though. They all knew deep down that it would be harder for someone like Jo to accept this.

* * *

Jo, meanwhile, had gotten home the night before. Walking into the Roadhouse, she glared at her mother before walking through to the back.

"How was the hunt?" Ellen asked, concerned for her daughter, who had clearly been crying. It hadn't helped that Cal had called ahead to say that Dean had done something to upset her daughter, "You see Dean?"

"Cal called you, I'm guessing?" Jo nodded with a scoff, before throwing her bag on her bed, "He's a dick."

"What did he do?" Ellen asked, perching on the bed.

"It's what he didn't do," Jo sighed, running her hand through her hair, "I...I don't even know what to think or how to tell you this. I mean, it changes everything...everything I've believed in, everything I've known and fought against."

Narrowing her eyes, Ellen watched her daughter, "You've found out the family secret, haven't you?"

"The...what do you know, mom?"

Ellen looked to the floor, playing with her fingernails. It wasn't often that Ellen got nervous, but this was one of those times. She'd never wanted Jo to get pulled into all this, never wanted her to find out about this secret that she'd been carrying around for the last 15 years or so.

"Mom?" Jo tried again, and this time Ellen looked up, "You know something."

"John told me about 15 years ago," Ellen nodded her head, "It's why I set up the Roadhouse here, so I could help keep the boys safe."

"You knew they were witches all this time?" Jo asked, "That they had powers, that they've sold their souls for magic?"

"No, that's not the case," Ellen quickly cut her daughter off, grabbing Jo's hand and brushing her hair out of her eyes with the other, "Their magic is all natural. A select few hunters know; the ones that John trusted the most. We know to keep them safe from harm. If other hunters found out...well, look at how you took it."

"How could you keep this from me?" Jo asked, shaking her head as she pulled her hands away from her mom, "From Ash."

"Actually, Ash found out last year," Ellen bit her lip, "I kept you in the dark to keep you safe. The more people that know, the more in danger they and their friends are. Demons and hunters alike will come after them."

Jo stood and started pacing the floor, running her hand through her messy and oily blonde hair. Her mind was racing a mile a minute, and there was nothing she could do to control it. How was she supposed to digest all this? Her mother had been keeping this from her. Ash had been keeping this from her, and Ash wasn't exactly the greatest with secrets.

"Jo, there's...there's a lot that you should know about the Winchesters and the Halliwells," Ellen sighed, "I think it's time you found out. Why don't you give Dean a call and get him over here. We can both explain together. It's also time he found out I know about him."

Jo wasn't sure what to do. The feeling of hurt and betrayal was too much. How could her own mother lie to her about all this for so long? Why didn't she tell her any of this sooner, when she started hunting with Dean? Then again, why hadn't Dean trusted her with this secret?

"Please, Jo." Ellen tried again, hoping that her daughter would agree. The last thing she needed was for other hunters to find out about this. It would put too many people in danger.

Finally, Jo nodded her head, looking at her mother, "Okay. But no promises that I'll stay afterwards."

"That's understandable."

 **Guest starring:**

Samantha Ferris as Ellen

Travis Aaron Wade as Cal

Chad Lindburg as Ash

Travis Wester as Harry

A.J. Buckley as Ed

Brittany Ishibishi as Maggie

Shane Meier as Craig

Nick Harrison as Mordechai

Kelly Rutherford as The Mother

Connor Paolo as Timmy

* * *

 **And Jo has finally found out the secret...along with Ellen and Ash. What did you think?**

 **Just to let you know, Cal was originally going to be Cole from season 10 of Supernatural but I realized that there'd be an issue with names when Cole the demon turned up-and yes, I have plans for him later on. So, I changed his name to Cal. When you're picturing him-and he may show up again in the future-it's Cole from Supernatural's season 10 :)**

 **I'll be back next week with episode 9 and it's a version of Ms. Hellfire. I really hope you enjoy this one as I add a bit of a Supernatural twist. As much as I love Prue playing Ms. Hellfire, with Andy still around I couldn't stick to that.**


	9. Episode 9: What's Dead Doesn't Always

**Hi everyone. I'm sorry this wasn't up yesterday. I completely lost track of days with extra work. It was only when I got a message this morning from someone that I realised it was Saturday today! Oops!**

 **Well, here's the next episode for you.**

Episode 9: What's Dead Doesn't Always Stay Dead

Dean looked up at the sign above the bar. Harvelle's Roadhouse stood out clearly in the morning light. After two weeks of hearing nothing, worried about what Jo thought about him, she'd finally called. She and Ellen wanted him over for a meal. The best Dean could do was that Friday morning for breakfast. It just had to be Friday 13th, and after the Friday 13th earlier that year Dean wasn't holding out much hope for it. Usually he wasn't superstitious, but enough had happened in March to make him feel uneasy.

That being said, he made his way out of him Impala and across the gravel to the door of the wooden building.

 _Closed_.

The bold black writing on the white sign in the door window read, but Dean knew that the door would be open. Jo had said it would be, just for him. They didn't have to worry about anyone else walking in at eight in the morning.

Taking a deep breath, Dean opened the door and stepped into the building. If he didn't already feel uncomfortable, he would the second he walked in. Jo stood by the pool table, facing the front door, with her arms folded. Her light-denim clad legs were shoulder-width apart, her brown eyes locked onto him. There wasn't a hint of emotion there, except maybe anger hidden behind the stern stare.

"Erm, hey, Jo." Dean offered a small wave, but she didn't waver. His face dropped, as he looked down at his feet, placing his hands in his own ripped, denim jeans. His boots were scuffed from the years of hunting, and he was only just noticing now how much oil he'd gotten on them from the last year or so at Trick's Garage.

"Dean! Thanks for coming," Ellen's voice broke the tension, as she walked into the bar area, "Jo, why didn't you bring him through?"

Dean looked between mother and daughter, realizing that there was some sort of unspoken communication going on. The hunter-witch wasn't naive enough to believe that Jo had kept his secret to herself. While she hadn't told her cousin, she had clearly told her mother. The question was why she was still so cheerful and happy to have him around. What was he missing?

"Dean, come in for breakfast," Ellen smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder to lead him through to the back, "Jo, you too. Now."

Her tone was much more forceful with her daughter, making it clear to Dean that Ellen wasn't happy with Jo. Something had happened between them, and Dean couldn't help but feel that he had something to do with this. As Dean stepped into the small kitchen, he could see that some pancakes and bacon was sitting out on the table.

"Help yourself, Dean," Ellen motioned towards the table and then glanced behind her, "Joanna Beth, you get your ass in here right now, or so help me..."

Jo trudged into the room, keeping her eyes on Dean as she sat at the table. Dean took a seat opposite her, so he could keep his eyes on her, too. They were locked, a mixture of emotions between them.

"Look, Jo, I'm really sorry..."

"Save it, Winchester," Jo fired, sitting back in the chair to fold her arms across her chest again, "I don't wanna hear any of it."

"Jo..." Dean tried, but Ellen cut him off.

"She's been like this for the last two weeks, Dean," Ellen explained, placing a cup of steaming coffee in front of him. It was black, just as he liked it, and strong. It was a welcome taste, and he couldn't help but close his eyes and moan a thank you. Ellen smiled, pouring herself and Jo some coffee, before sitting in the seat between them, "She's not talking to me, either."

"Do you blame me?" Jo fired at her mother, not touching anything in front of her. Dean just raised his eyebrows. While he knew mother and daughter argued on occasion, he'd never seen Jo act this hostile to her mother. He started to feel like this was more than just him. There was something Ellen had done to make her daughter so angry.

"Joanna," Ellen fired and then looked over at Dean, "Help yourself to the food. I know how you like to eat. I'm not sure it's as good as your cousin's cooking but..."

"It'll be great. Thanks, Ellen," Dean smiled, using his fork to place some pancakes and bacon on his plate. He couldn't help but pour some syrup over his pancakes, before tucking into them, "If you don't mind me asking, why did you call me over here?"

Ellen sighed, glancing over at Jo, who just rolled her eyes with a scoff. Dean looked at the blonde-haired hunter, nodding his head, "You told her."

"Oh, that's not the fun part," Jo smirked, "Wait until you hear what she has to say."

Frowning, Dean looked over at Ellen, his nerves starting to get to him. He put his poker face on, though. Nobody could see how scared he really was at the idea of the family secret getting out, "Ellen, what I am...what my family is...we're not evil..."

"I know, Dean." Ellen nodded but Dean hasn't quite heard her.

"We're good. We protect innocents, and we've never..." Dean stopped in his tracks, taking in the words that Ellen had said, "You know? You know witches are good?"

"I know _you're_ good," Ellen nodded her head, making it clear that not all witches were good. Dean knew that but it had taken some time to accept that some could be, "I know your family is and nobody has ever sold their soul for magic."

Dean frowned, sitting forward in his chair so he could rest his elbows on the wooden table. Glancing at Jo, he looked back at Ellen, "How? I mean...well...how?"

"Your daddy told me all about your magic," Ellen explained, "Years ago, he told me the truth. Me and Bobby. Will had just died and well, I wasn't exactly open to hearing about it at first, but...then I decided to give him a chance. He was a stubborn ass when he wanted to be. When I decided to open the Roadhouse, I made the decision to bring it here to make sure you boys and your cousins were safe. Any hint of hunters after your family, and I made sure they were distracted and sent on their way."

Dean just looked at Ellen, mouth open wide. She'd known all about his family secret. For the last year, he'd been lying to her for no reason. That made him feel bad, until he remembered that it was Ellen who'd been lying to him all this time. Then he looked at Jo, realizing why she was so angry about it. Ellen hadn't told Jo, until Jo had told her about Dean's secret.

* * *

Meanwhile, Prue sat in the conservatory on her cell phone, discussing plans for work, while trying to fit everything around her wedding planning and various appointments. Sam sat on the floor, pieces of paper surrounding him and the wicker table.

"All right, I can meet with the Curson Foundation at noon but then we'll have to move my 1pm lunch regarding the Lowe estate," Prue sighed, running her hand through her lengthening black hair, "That will affect my 2:30 with the bakery and my 4:30 meeting with the new printers. Have you confirmed Mrs. Swanson, yet?"

"The last Tae Bo class is at seven." Phoebe walked in, checking her own cell phone. Prue glanced up at her youngest sister, nodding her head.

"I'll just have enough time to make it to kick boxing class." She said, proud of herself for deciding to take these classes with Phoebe. It had taken some time to agree to this, the family relying on Dean for everything, but there was only so much he could do. The girls needed to learn how to fight, and couldn't always ask Dean to teach them. They could train together to improve tactics and learn each others' fighting styles, but they needed to learn the basics first. So far, there was only Piper who wasn't on board with that.

Prue sighed when she heard her assistant telling her about Mrs. Swanson's plane not landing until 6pm. That would make kickboxing impossible.

"What about Sarah?" Sam asked, without looking up from the various pieces of paper surrounding him as he took notes from them, "She's always wanting more responsibility. At least, that's what she's told me."

"Can Sarah take on the Mrs. Swanson account for now?" Prue asked into the phone, grinning at her smart cousin. Why hadn't she thought of that? "Great, please do and see if she can handle some of the other stuff, too. Making my day easier will mean...what emergency staff meeting?"

Prue groaned, as she stood up and quickly rushed around the house. It turned out that an emergency staff meeting had been called that she hadn't been alerted about, and it was either be there or be fired.

"I really need another me!" Prue sighed, as she hung up the phone and rushed around for her purse and keys, "I don't even have time to have fun anymore. It's either work, wedding or magic."

"Here, here!" Sam called out from the phone, just as Piper walked into the living room.

"Morning!" She beamed, carrying a cup of coffee in her hands.

"Why are you so happy this morning?" Prue asked, her arms folding over her chest with an amused expression on her face.

"Well, if you really must know, life is good," Piper grinned, "It's been calm and normal for the last two weeks. And I don't even care that it's Friday..."

"Shh! Don't say it..." Phoebe warned playfully, as Prue and Sam chuckled from their spots.

"The 13th," Piper finished her sentence, holding up her hand to her sister, "There, I said it. Nothing happened."

Suddenly, the sound of glass smashing interrupted their conversations. The cup in Piper's hand smashed, coffee spilling everywhere. The girls screamed, as they ran into the dining room. Sam made a beeline for the living room, taking cover behind the couch. Looking into the dining room, Sam motioned for his cousins to follow him. The dining table had been over turned, and he could see the unmistakable notches of bullet holes in the varnished wood.

Prue and Phoebe grabbed each others' hands and dived behind the couch with their cousin. Piper remained in the other room, breathing heavily as she took stock of the situation.

"I told you not to say it!" Phoebe shouted from the living room, her face as white as a sheet.

"So this is my fault?" Piper retorted back, anger and fear lacing her voice.

"Get your butt over here!" Sam warned his cousin. Finally, Piper got the guts to get up and ran towards her sisters and cousin. Another round of bullets were fired her way, hitting a glass vase just behind where Piper had previously been crouched. She instinctively held up her hands, flicking her wrists, making the bullets freeze in mid-air.

Shocked, Piper stared at the bullets that would have hit her if it wasn't for her powers, before finally pulling herself together. She dived behind the couch, just as all the bullets unfroze, hitting various ornaments and walls behind.

"Oh, like I really need this today!" Prue growled, just as the shooting started again.

"Since when do demons use bullets?" Phoebe asked with a yell, just as a man walked into the dining room through the kitchen door. Prue was just about to use her powers when the front door slammed open. Three rounds were fired from the doorway, and the man dropped to the floor, dead. Heavy footsteps bounded through the house, and Phoebe could see the jean-clad legs standing over the body of the man, dressed in a tailored black suit. Another shot rang through the house, making the four witches jump.

"It's okay," a gruff voice finally said, making his way over to the couch, "He's dead."

"Dean!" Sam sighed with relief, seeing his brother standing over them with a cocky grin.

"Who did you think it was?" Dean asked with a laughed, holding out his hand for Sam to take it, "Neighbor Dan? Like he'd have the guts to come storming into a fire fight. What was all that about, by the way?"

"Your guess is as good as ours," Prue sighed, glancing over at the man, "But I guess that wasn't a demon."

With a sigh, Dean glanced over at the man he'd just killed and shook his head. It definitely wasn't a demon.

* * *

Opening Credits

* * *

The five witches were looking through the man's pockets, as Adam rushed through the house, "What the hell?"

Dean glanced up at his little brother, who had been called by one of the girls once they knew that they were safe. The idea of a non-demon coming after them freaked them out. While Dean's gun had silver bullets, he just had a feeling that this wasn't a shapeshifter or anything else supernatural. Something told him that this was a hired assassin.

The more they went through the many pockets of his labelled suit, the more he was convinced. They'd found multiple aliases, throwing knifes and a blade disguised as a fountain pen. Either this man was an assassin or a very well-off hunter, and Dean didn't feel right believing he'd killed a hunter. Of course, the thought was crossing his mind, and he knew he'd need to discuss some things with Bobby, especially after his talk that morning with Ellen and Jo.

"Sutro Heights Apartments," Piper said, holding up a key to an apartment, "That's kinda scary. He didn't live too far from here."

"What's even scarier is that we've never been attacked by a mortal before," Phoebe sighed, glancing over to her eldest cousin, "You think he's a hunter?"

As Sam pulled out a little black book, Dean refused to comment. His jaw tightened, as he looked down at the man. It wasn't someone he recognized, not that he knew every single hunter in the United States. That would be a ridiculous thought, alone. But he'd never heard of another hunter working in the San Francisco area.

"It's a book of names," Sam said, glancing through the little black book, "And not with numbers. We're all on this list; at least some of us are. P. Halliwell, D. Winchester, S. Winchester...All the other names are crossed off, except an M. Steadwell."

"It's got to be a hit man," Adam sighed, and then frowned, "Why am I not on there?"

"You're sad because a hit man isn't after you?" Phoebe asked the youngest of the family with a laugh, before turning back to Sam, "You think someone hired him to kill us?"

"I think someone knew who we were," Sam sighed, as he leafed through the other pages, "Prue: Telekinesis, Piper and Dean: Freezing, Phoebe and Sam: Negligible."

"Hey! Negligible?" Phoebe was now the one too look offended, making Adam chuckle and nudge her.

"It's looking more possible that this was a hunter," Dean sighed, running a hand through his dirty blonde hair in a panic, "I mean, why would a demon hire a mortal to kill us? That doesn't make any sense."

"It's a shame we didn't know about that before we called..." Piper started, just as there was a knock at the door. Nobody walked over to it, as Andy and Darryl let themselves in, instantly closing the door behind them. Prue had called her fiancé, letting him know that there was an urgent supernatural matter, so Andy had rushed right over with his partner in tow. What they hadn't realized was Andy was on his way over that morning anyway to speak to Piper.

"What happened?" Andy didn't bother with the small talk, as they made their way into the dining room. The six witches crowding around the body had cleverly disguised it from the two police officers.

"Someone tried to kill us." Prue explained, instantly seeing the concern on her fiancé's face grow further. The _someone_ part had really stuck out to him after almost a year of knowing all about demons and magic.

"Did you see who it was?" Darryl asked, his brown eyes full of concern for the six witches who were turning into friends.

The cousins looked at each other, before stepping to different sides, allowing the two detectives to see the body of the assassin/hunter.

"We didn't do anything to provoke him," Phoebe quickly spoke, "He just started shooting up the place. If it wasn't for Dean...well..."

Darryl looked over at the hunter-witch with a frown, "The bullets are yours?"

Dean nodded his head, holding out the pistol he'd used to fire the rounds. A sheepish grin passed his features, as he glanced over at Andy, "It's licensed and registered."

Andy couldn't help but roll his eyes, before getting back to the scene at hand. It was only then that Sam held out the little black book, "We're not his only hits. There are nine names in this book crossed out. There's just one other than ours that isn't."

Andy took the book, glancing through the list of names, along with addresses next to them. The hitman obviously knew exactly where he was going to get to, "Plastique, 10am. Plastic explosives. For all we know, he's probably got some place ready rigged to blow."

Phoebe quickly glanced at her watch to see that it was a little after nine. There was only one name that could be hit with the plastic explosives, and it had to be this M. Steadwell.

"I'll check DMV, see if I can get an address." Darryl nodded his head, taking the black book so that he could get the name right.

"Dean and I can go to her apartment and see if we can find anything there..." Prue started, but then cursed, "No, I have this staff meeting."

"We'll swing by Bucklands first," Dean nodded his head, "Phoebe, Adam, go with Darryl and help him anyway you can. Piper, Sam, stay here and see if there's anything we missed."

"Hey, we're the detectives here," Andy smirked, "But it's a good plan. I'll call in a favor and put this body on ice. I can only buy you guys a day, though, and there will be questions."

They knew it wouldn't be plain sailing. There were going to be issues, especially as they tried to work out exactly who this guy was.

***LINE BREAK HERE***

Prue eased her way quietly into the chair between a blonde-haired, stocky man in shirt and tie and a dark-haired, dark-skinned man in a black, tailored suit. She just hoped that she could get away with being a few minutes late. Traffic through San Francisco had been terrible.

"You're late, partner." The blonde-haired man whispered to her, as she finally took out a pen from her jacket pocket to make it look like she'd been there for a while.

"We are not partners." Prue whispered back with a roll of her eyes. She already knew enough about this guy to know that he was an arrogant and cocky employee.

"You. Dark hair," Mr. Craswell interrupted their hushed conversation, making Prue look up in shocked, "Yeah, the one who tried to sneak in late. What's your name?"

"My name? Pr...Prue-Prue Halliwell." She stuttered, wondering when she had become so nervous. She had always been so sure of herself in board meetings, but something about this new boss had really put her on edge. The fact that his 6-foot-4 frame towered over everyone, and his horn-rimmed glasses made him look meaner than he possibly was didn't help matters.

"Yeah, right, okay, you'll be partnered with Sheriden there," he said, making Prue glance over at the grinning, cocky blonde next to her, "Every employee in this room and their partner has until tomorrow night to scour through the obits. Do whatever you have to do to raise $100,000 of auction material," during this time Prue had raised her hand nervously, making Mr. Craswell get annoyed, "Yes?"

"By tomorrow?" She questioned, uncertain that something like that was even possible. She started to think back to when Claire Pryce had first taken over—and Prue really missed her at the moment—and had insisted on hundreds of thousands raised, but there was more than 24 hours to do that, right? And it wasn't just out of thin air. This seemed a little too unrealistic.

"I guess we better clear the decks, huh?" the blonde asked with a smirk as Mr. Craswell left the room. The various partners had started discussing their tactics, but Prue needed to get out of the office, "You know, Prue, we might even have to work over dinner."

"Dinner, no," Prue shook her head, glancing over at Dean who was impatiently waiting for her. She could feel the urgency from him, knowing that he was panicking over the idea of a hunter finding out about their secret. If one hunter knew, Prue could only worry about Dean's thoughts that other hunters now knew.

"C'mon, we're in this together, aren't we?"

"Yeah, Jack, but..." Prue felt the desire to be in two places at once. Dean was waving his arms to get her out of the office, but this blonde hair "partner" wanted her to stay. Sure, both their jobs relied on this little project, but Prue had more important things to worry about. She had the assassin-hunter to deal with.

The need to be in two places at once suddenly took over. Prue gasped, and suddenly found herself standing in front of a very shocked Dean.

"Prue?" He asked, and Dean glanced at herself still sitting in the office. Jack was calling out to Prue, who had her eyes closed, and all Prue could do was glance at Dean apologetically and then disappear in a pink haze. Dean's eyebrows raised, as he watched the Prue in the office chair open her eyes and look around.

"Prue, have you even heard a word I've said?" Jack asked, angrily, throwing his hands up at her.

"No, I'm feeling a little...weird," was the only way that Prue could describe the feeling, "I'll be...uh...Ooh..." Prue quickly got up and rushed over to her cousin, who held his hands out, motioning towards the office.

"What the hell just happened?"

"I don't know. I think it was some sort of astral projection," Prue shrugged, "I suddenly felt this desperate need for there to be two of me, and all of a sudden there was."

"This is a great time for your powers to be growing, Prue." Dean growled, not even questioning how it was even possible. If he thought about it hard enough, it made sense that she's be able to move her body with her mind if she could already move things. But it didn't really matter right now. All that did matter was that they needed to get out of there before it happened again.

* * *

Darryl rounded the corner, with Phoebe in his passenger seat and Adam in the back. They'd gotten the results from the DMV, finding out exactly where this M. Steadwell both worked and lived. Considering the time, they expected her to be at work, but had called Andy to get a team at her house just in case. Sam and Piper had gone with Andy to check on that, after dealing with the body of the possible hunter but most likely assassin.

The sirens were blaring, and Adam couldn't help but feel excitement as they tore through the streets of San Francisco. They were hitting it close to 10am, and he was certain this assassin wouldn't mess up a time. He'd be bang on the dot. After all, from what his cousins and brothers had mentioned, he'd managed to lure them just where he needed them to make it an easier killing. If it wasn't for Dean seeing him as he pulled up in the Impala, Sam and his cousins may have been bodies in the morgue instead.

"You know I never wanted to be dragged into this world of yours," Darryl finally broke the silence as he rounded a corner at full speed, "I mean, I stare down death every day and I'm trained for that, but that's in this world. I wasn't sure at first if I really wanted to be dragged into your world. And then John and Andy were working together to try and kill that...Yellow-Eyed Demon thing..."

"They were working together?" Adam asked with a frown, and Phoebe couldn't help but frown as she looked at the inspector. Darryl just nodded his head, but didn't offer any more information on the subject, "Dad never said anything..."

"Uncle John had a habit of keeping a lot secret," Phoebe sighed, "Like why he turned himself in for a crime he didn't commit."

"You know that was to protect Andy, right?" Darryl pointed out, as they pulled up outside a row of stores in downtown San Francisco, "He wanted to get Andy his job back. I guess he knew he didn't have long anyway."

Neither of the witches said anything as they watched a small, blonde-haired woman in a flowing floral skirt and brown jacket—that really didn't match—walk to a door of a bookshop.

"No!" Adam shouted, but realized he couldn't get the back door open with the child lock on to stop criminals from escaping. He knew he should have sat up front. Phoebe climbed out of the car and let her cousin out, while Darryl rushed out and shouted at the young woman.

"No! Don't!"

Darryl rushed over to the woman, pulling her away from the door and onto the ground. The explosion rocked the foundations, shaking the ground underneath the almost victim and her savior cop. It had been loud enough to make people in the row of shops on the other side of the street stop, just to watch the aftermath. Of course, cell phones were soon pulled out and cameras flashed and filmed the scene. Phoebe had seen one of the cell phones and grabbed Adam's hands before he instinctively held out his hand to try and protect Darryl and this M. Steadwell.

"Is everyone okay?" Phoebe now shouted, rushing over to the two. She glanced at the door, as it swung off his hinge and fell to the ground. The whole frame had been destroy, the window at the front completely shattered. Phoebe wasn't even going to look inside.

"Yeah, are you okay Miss Steadwell?" Darryl looked down at the woman, who was looking around with a grin.

"It worked. I can't believe it," she exclaimed and then looked over at Phoebe and Adam, who had now joined them, "I cast a protection spell and it actually worked. My first spell."

The woman laughed, dancing on the spot as she cheered at her first attempt at magic. Adam just laughed once, looking at her with raised eyebrows while Phoebe and Darryl looked at each other. The inspector just pointed at the woman, shaking his head, "Don't tell me she's a witch, too."

Phoebe couldn't say anything. She just watched Miss Steadwell dance around on the spot, her floral skirt flowing effortlessly. There wasn't a care in the world that her business had just been blown to smithereens, with her own life almost taken.

* * *

While Phoebe, Adam and Darryl helped save the witch, Dean and Prue reached the apartment of the hit man. As soon as they entered, they were taken aback by the fixtures and fittings inside. The name and location of the apartment building should have been enough to give them an idea of the amount of money this guy made, but now they were really seeing it.

"Lalique fixtures, silk-woven rugs," Prue shook her head, running her hand over one of the pieces of art hanging on his walls. She was sure it was an original Da Vinci, but she'd have to take it to the office to double check everything. Some replicates were extremely good now, "This guy certainly knew how to live."

"Yeah, I could get used to living here." Dean nodded his head with a humorless laugh as he glanced at the drinks cabinet along one of the walls. It wasn't really a cabinet but a bar, and it was full of high-end liquors. What type of hunter was making this sort of dough?

"I guess we'd better get looking around," Prue commented, "I'll take the kitchen, if you want. You can take the bedroom."

Dean nodded his head and then followed the path to what he assumed would be the bedroom. While he did it, his cell phone rang. It wasn't the ringtone he'd been hoping to hear all day after the talk with the Harvelles. Instead, it was the one belonging to another person he'd been hoping to hear from since the attack at the Manor.

"Hey, Bobby, please tell me you know something about this guy," Dean didn't even wait for a gruff hello from the man, as he opened up the wardrobe door and instantly groaned, "If this is a hunter, I wanna know how he did it."

"I'm not sure it's a hunter, Dean," Bobby replied, "I've never heard of one living the lifestyle of the rich and famous."

Dean sighed, while he discussed a few things with the aging hunter. He couldn't help but go through more wardrobes and then hit a button that opened up a secret compartment behind a bookshelf. Inside was a mixture of guns, grenades, wigs and prosthetic enhancements. Dean scoffed, shaking his head, "You know, I doubt anyone knew what this guy looked like."

"Well, I do have a name," Prue said behind him, making Dean look around and hold the phone up. She waited with a smile, as Dean put Bobby on speaker phone, and then held up a business card she'd found in the kitchen, "His name was Hellfire. Ring any bells?"

"Oh, dammit," Bobby sighed through the phone, "I thought he was long gone. His name's Talbot."

"Talbot Hellfire?" Dean screwed up his nose, and then threw a hurt look at the phone as he was called an "idjit" by the man who was a second father to him.

"Wayne Talbot," and Dean could tell that there was a roll of the eyes as Bobby said the name, "He's not really a hunter but does know about the world. He has a habit of stealing mystical objects and selling them."

"Explains the money." Prue shrugged her shoulders.

"Yeah, but you gotta be careful," Bobby now explained more, "He has a daughter. Her name's Bela, and she's more ruthless than her father. You don't wanna get on the wrong side of her."

"Any idea where this Bela chick is now?" Dean asked, but Bobby couldn't tell them. He would keep an ear to the ground though and put out some feelers. The good news was the woman tried to remain in New York as much as possible, or around that area. It would be unlikely she'd come looking for dear old daddy right now.

Dean hung up the phone and sighed, glancing back at the suits in the wardrobe, "Well, at least it's not a hunter."

The sound of the apartment door closing caught both the witches on guard. Holding up a finger to his lips, Dean made sure Prue remained quiet and in the bedroom, while he walked out into the living room to check who had walked in. If it was Bela, he was hopeful that he would at least be able to freeze her and then deal with things from there.

Raising his gun, Dean stepped slowly into the living room. He saw the barrel of a gun across the hall by the doorframe, and then a man walked in. Two others followed him.

"Don't move!" the first man said, spotting Dean, "Don't even flinch, or you're dead. That's it, now slowly turn around. Watch his hands," he said to his henchmen, "She can kill you with them in a second. Hellfire, I presume."

"And you would be?" Dean played along to see how much information he could get.

"Meg sent me," he explained, "I'm D.J., her right-hand man. She's very unhappy with you and would like to see you now."

"You take orders from a girl?" Dean chuckled, but saw the fire in the man's eyes. With a roll of his eyes, he flicked his wrists and then turned his attention to the doorway to the bedroom. Prue stepped out, eyebrows raised.

"We need to get outta here." Prue breathed, almost in relief.

"No, I've gotta plan," Dean shook his head, "We need to find out who this guy is and who hired him, right? Why this—I'm assuming Meg—is after us," when Prue nodded her head, Dean continued, "Well, what better way than pretend to be him?"

"Haha, funny," Prue rolled her eyes, "That's ridiculous, Dean." But she quickly realized that Dean thought it was a great plan, and was more than up for it. She glared at her cousin, shaking her head, "You can't be serious."

"Look, nobody knows what this guy really looks like and they don't know he's dead," Dean pointed out, "And I can freeze everything if it gets outta hand. Chances are, this Talbot guy was hired by a demon. I'm betting Meg is that demon. It's only a matter of time before she finds out we're still alive, and then she'll send someone else. We gotta do something. Any better ideas?"

Prue glared at her cousin, shaking her head. Unfortunately, she didn't have any better ideas. Folding her arms, she laboredly sighed, "Fine. Do it. Just keep me updated."

With that, Prue walked back into the bedroom, and Dean unfroze the scene. To the three men, it was like nothing had happened. Dean put his gun into the back of his jeans and then walked towards the three men, "You know, you three wanna put those things away before you hurt yourselves. Show me the way."

The three men led Dean out of the apartment, and Prue couldn't help but feel uneasy about the whole situation. Why had she just let her cousin go off into a situation where he could get himself killed? Her other cousins and her sisters were going to kill her for this.

* * *

Meg watched with glee as a man stood in front of her nervously. Behind her was the clash of billiard balls hitting each other and the smell of beer and liquor filled the room, but it didn't bother her. Nothing like that bothered her, especially when there was a sweating, terrified mortal standing in front of her.

"I swear to God, Meg, I tried to get the money for you, but," the man started stuttering as he came up with his excuse, "I messed up. I was scared. I—I didn't know how you were gonna react."

"So you lied to me." Meg said, her face stone-cold as she made the man sweat even more. Failing hadn't pissed her off more than the lying that he'd decided to do to try cover his tracks. When would people learn that lies were always found out.

"I didn't know," the man pleaded, "I didn't know."

"You made a mistake and you're sorry for it, right?" Meg asked, looking over at the door as D.J. walked in with two men and who she assumed would be this Hellfire guy. She'd never come across him before, but had hired him to take out the Winchesters and Halliwells. It would be easier than her going up against them. Her father had gone up against them and failed in the past. She wasn't about to risk the same.

The man in front of her was now nodding his head, back to apologizing for his mistake, " _Never_ lie to me again. Understood?"

The man quickly nodded and then ran away, making Dean raise his eyebrows with a smirk. He looked over at Meg and then nodded, "You must be Meg."

"Hellfire?" Meg asked, and Dean nodded his head once. She stood up and walked over to him, giving him a once over. It was only now that Dean felt conscious in his dulled denim jeans and red shirt over his black t-shirt, "I expected more from you. Something more..."

"Suitable to my fee?" Dean asked with a smirk, "I was working undercover. I needed to fit in around those damned witches, didn't I?"

Meg seemed to take that as a good enough answer, before turning her attention to D.J., "You know what to bring." As he walked away, Meg motioned for Dean to follow her up the stairs of the bar that he noticed they were in. A few of the henchmen stopped to watch him, but he just smirked and followed the brown-haired woman. She was shorter than he expected, but the demon had certainly chosen a good meatsuit. That's if it was one of his typical demons. Maybe it was a warlock and that wasn't a possessed meatsuit. Right now, Dean wasn't making any assumptions. He needed to learn as much as possible.

"You never confirmed the Halliwells and Winchesters this morning," Meg said, sitting down in a large, brown leather chair. She leaned forward to pour some of the scotch on the table, making sure to pour two glasses. Dean took a seat on a matching brown leather couch, but watched the demon carefully, "Did everything go to plan?"

"I didn't have a clean shot." Dean shook his head with a frown, knowing that she'd work out a lie if he told her one.

"That's disappointing, but at least you're still alive," Meg nodded, "I've heard those witches are tricky ones. You know there are actually six of them, but the boss doesn't want the youngest one touched."

"Why not?" Dean asked, curiosity on why his youngest brother's life was to be saved getting the better of him.

"I made a deal with his daddy to bring him back," Meg smirked, "The boss understands that if something happens by our hands within the first year of that, the contract would be null and void and nobody wants to see John Winchester back on the streets. It was hard enough getting his soul anyway."

Dean frowned hearing the confession. This Meg woman had clearly not known who he really was, not realized that he was the eldest Winchester brother and someone who could make sure he was killed and sent back to wherever she came from.

"Anyway, what about the last one on the list?"

"Steadwell?" Dean was brought back into the room by the question. As he thought about it, he then grinned realizing just the plan Talbot had had, "It was a blast."

"I like your style, sweet cheeks," Meg purred, taking a mouthful of her scotch, "Now the problem is you've only got until midnight to take the Halliwells and Winchesters out. All five need to be killed."

As they talked, D.J. walked over with a bottle of champagne in hand, opening it with a loud pop. Unlike whenever Dean had opened a bottle of bubbly—not that he cared for it—it didn't fizz and spill everywhere.

"You don't need to worry about those witches. I know their every move." Dean said confidently.

"I'm getting a lot of pressure from the boss, you know."

"Who is the boss?" Dean asked, but Meg shrugged her shoulders. He didn't need to know about that, but it certainly made Dean even more inquisitive. He was going to find out by midnight, even if it killed him. As a glass of champagne was put in front of him, Dean glanced over at Meg with a smirk, "I need to go, if you want me to complete this by midnight."

"Let me take you, cowboy," Meg smirked, standing up but Dean shook his head, "We can't have a pretty thing like you walking around this dangerous area alone."

"It's the _dangerous_ people who need to watch their backs around me, sweetheart." Dean winked, before walking down the stairs and out of the bar. Meg just watched, before she walked into the back office of the bar and waited for her boss to show.

Within a flash, Barbas appeared in front of her, a scowl covering his features, "Why aren't the witches dead?"

"They will be," Meg growled, flashing her red eyes at the demon, "And you don't scare me."

"I should do," Barbas warned her, "Just because you're a demon, doesn't mean I can't kill you with your fear. It just doesn't change the fact that I'm stuck in the underworld. But it will be worth it."

"How exactly have you gotten out?" Meg asked, frowning as she thought back just eight months ago, "You were out the last Friday 13th and failed."

"Someone owes me a favor and paid up," Barbas shrugged his shoulders, "I want those Charmed Ones. Five of them, anyway. Then once I'm out and the year is up, I can take care of the last."

Meg nodded with an evil smile. Her father would be pleased knowing that the Winchesters and Halliwells were going to die.

* * *

Dan surveyed the broken window, making a few notes in his notebook after taking measurements, "I can have my crew install some temporary windows by some time tonight."

"Thank you." Piper smiled softly, hearing footsteps behind her. She'd been on edge since the morning, but the idea of her sister and cousin going snooping around the hitman's apartment had her even further on it. Seeing Andy behind her, she signed with relief, but she couldn't help notice the phone in his hand.

"Prue?" She asked with hope in her voice, but it soon disappeared when Andy shook his head.

"Piper, can I talk to you please?"

"You know, Piper," Dan interrupted, "I'd feel so much better if you moved in with me. I'm not sure if this was a drive-by, and until the permanent windows are put in I'd just worry about you all the time."

"She has two inspectors looking after her." Andy tensed, keeping his eye on Dan. Piper couldn't help but frown had Andy's strange tone. He was usually warm and friendly to Dan, but something had instantly changed. She couldn't help but feel that this hand something to do with the reason he needed to talk to her—and whoever had been on the phone to him.

"No offence but where were you when the drive-by happened this morning?" Dan asked, narrowing his eyes at the inspector, just as Phoebe and Adam walked in with M. Steadwell following behind them.

"Oh, is he a wi..." the woman started, but Piper quickly flicked her wrists. All the mortals in the room froze, including Steadwell. She was clearly just a practitioner, much like Aviva, Adam couldn't help but think to himself.

"Who's she?" Piper motioned to the woman, looking at her younger sister and youngest cousin.

"Would you believe M. Steadwell?" Phoebe asked, and then looked between the two frozen men, "Is something going on here?"

"I'm not sure," Piper shook her head, frowning between Dan and Andy. She definitely felt like that there was some type of tension between them, "Where's Morris?"

"At the morgue," Adam explained, "He's using Andy's favor call to somehow put the hit man on ice under Marti's name. Don't ask. Where's Prue, Dean and Sam?"

"Sam is upstairs trying to get on with his school work," Piper sighed, rubbing her eyes, "I'm not sure about Prue or Dean. I expected them to be back by now."

It was just then that the door opened again, this time Prue walking through the house. The three witch cousins looked at her, expecting to see another figure behind her. Adam instantly frowned, seeing that nobody was with her, "Where's Dean?"

"He's...well, he's assuming the identity of the hit man," Prue sighed, "But I have news. I got a new power."

"What?" Phoebe looked at her eldest sister, pouting with her bottom lip, "Are you kidding me?"

"Nope, I can astral project now."

Phoebe narrowed her eyes, scrunching up her face and playfully sticking her tongue out, "I hate you."

Piper now sensed that her freezing power wasn't going to hold that much longer, so quickly shooed Prue out of the room. She needed to get Dan out of the house, keep Marti in the house and find out what Andy wanted to talk to her about. Then it would allow a lot of talking to determine just what they were going to do about Dean's newly assumed identity.

* * *

One of Meg's minions had given Dean a lift back to the apartment, which meant Dean had to make it look like he really lived there. Seeing that his Impala was no longer parked outside, he assumed that Prue had driven it back home. If it was anyone other than Prue he would have been livid, but he could trust the eldest of the six witches with his baby.

As he walked back through the apartment, he glanced over at the TV stand. A wrapped box stood on next to the TV, a card beside it. Frowning, Dean traced his hand over the blue paper of the box before picking up the card.

' _Maybe this will make you complete your task by 10._

 _-M.'_

There was only one person who could have left that card, and Dean couldn't help but check the box to see what she'd given him as an incentive. It was a little heavier than he expected, making him even more excited about the contents. As he opened it, he couldn't help but smile. Running his hand over the silver barrel of the pistol, he found himself staring at the beauty of the gift. Meg definitely had taste when it came to firearms.

Now he just had to make sure he looked just right for the next time he met her. He wasn't going to be able to use the "blending in" reason with her the next time. As much as he hated monkey suits, he secretly looked forward to dressing up in designer, tailored suits.

* * *

Meanwhile, Barbas made his way through the coroner's office. After finding out that the coroner's greatest fear was to be autopsied on himself, Barbas magically set the equipment to work. It gave him chance to walk into the morgue, and open up the cold room that was supposed to be the witch Steadwell.

"Well, well, well," Barbas said to himself, "This doesn't look much like an explosion victim, or a man."

* * *

Piper shook her head, as she took in everything that Andy had to say. His face was grave, and she knew that there wasn't a hint of a joke here. He'd not liked the information he'd received, just like he didn't like delivering it to Piper. But she'd asked for this. She'd had her own suspicions and now they were all coming true. This Friday 13th sucked!

"You're definitely sure?" Piper asked again.

"I'm just telling you what the reports came back as." Andy sighed, but there was a hint in his voice that he was certain about this. It all added up.

"Well, I guess we better tell the others," Piper nodded her head, "Dean is gonna freak."

"I don't blame him."

* * *

Marti walked around the kitchen, assessing Piper's pride and joy. Adam and Phoebe followed her around, while Piper talked to Andy in another room.

"You can't keep wolfsbane and holy thistle on the same shelf!" Marti said, glancing across at the other two witches, "Their harmonics are in complete opposition. I mean, I don't wanna second-guess a sister or brother witch, but this is all wrong. I don't see how you can cast a spell that's worth a darn."

"Hey!" Adam was taken aback, just as they heard the door of a car slam. Phoebe moved to the kitchen window and instantly frowned, just as Sam walked into the kitchen.

"Is there any reason Dean is in a suit?" Sam asked, as Dean walked in through the back door, "Did you have to play FBI again? Wait, that's not your suit. That's a damn good one."

"I know," Dean grinned, pulling at the jacket, "And it fit perfectly. Looks like Talbot and I are the same size."

"What's with the hair gel?" Adam now asked, chuckling at his eldest brother. Not only had he gone for the tailored suit, but he'd gelled his hair with a side parting. He'd really taken to looking the part of the hit man.

"Wow! It looks like being a hired killer agrees with you, Dean." Prue commented as she walked into the kitchen, followed closely by Piper and Andy.

"Who does the Porsche outside belong to?" Andy now asked, and Dean couldn't help but shrug and hold up the car keys. He'd found them while going through more of Talbot's things, and knew he'd needed a way to get back home. The car wasn't as good as his baby—nothing could replace her—but it was enough right now. He needed to keep his cover at this point.

"Anyway, I'm gonna need to get back before anyone gets suspicious," Dean sighed, "What do you know?"

Prue's cell phone chose that moment to ring, making her growl. All it had been all morning was phone call after phone call from Jack. She had a lot more important things to do than deal with the impossible task her new boss had set them.

The rest got into the conversation about the various witches on the list. Sam couldn't help but point out that there had been eleven names on the list, although if the P. Halliwell was counted three times, it would make it thirteen. With Marti being a witch practitioner, too, it all seemed to sound too coincidental—and they'd all stopped believing in coincidences.

"You know, Meg says her boss wants the five of us dead by midnight," Dean nodded his head, "Ring any bells?"

"Barbas." Piper folded her arms, wishing that it could be anyone else. But Phoebe quickly disagreed, considering they'd already dealt with him. He wasn't meant to come out of the bottle for another 1,300 years.

"Maybe he's found a loop hole," Sam suggested, "It wouldn't be the first time. I mean, Yellow Eyes is back out thanks to Abaraxas. Dean, you get back and try flush out Barbas. Just be careful, okay?"

"Hey, my greatest fear happened," Dean shrugged his shoulders, glancing across at Adam, "By the way, you're not allowed to be killed for a year. I'll explain more later but that's why you're not on the list."

There was no time to chat any more. Dean needed to get back to Meg, and he needed to deal with Barbas. His youngest brother and cousins weren't happy about it, but what other choice did they have.

"I'll call you guys and check in every hour," Dean offered, "How does that sound?"

"Be careful." Adam nodded his head. With that, Dean left the house and took the Porsche back to the bar that Meg had made her home. The rest of the Winchesters and the three Halliwell sisters were left to deal with everything else.

***LINE BREAK HERE***

Meg was sitting in the large leather chair, drinking her champagne, as Dean walked up the stairs. She grinned, seeing him in the dark tailored suit. He unfastened the jacket buttons as he sat down, leaning forward on his legs to talk to Meg.

"You look like you're ready to celebrate," the demon grinned, "Are the witches dead?"

"The night's young," Dean shrugged his shoulders, his cocky nature coming through, "We have a little bit of business to discuss."

The statement caught the demon off guard. She looked over at Dean, narrowing her eyes, before running her finger along the brown leather, "All work and no play?"

"Oh, we can play later," Dean winked at her, pretending to flirt back, "Right after I get my money."

"You'll get paid when all 13 witches are dead." Meg made it clear, no longer flirting. One thing she hated was someone trying to con her. She was a crossroads demon; there was no way she could be conned.

"You know, the boss has a nasty habit of disappearing in the middle of the night," Dean pointed out, "I'd hate for my money to disappear with him. Can I trust you? And Barbas?" He knew that Meg had never used her bosses name, and he couldn't help but smirk as she sat up straight in her chair. At no point had this demon used his name, so how did he know who her boss was?

Meg couldn't help but glance at movement across the room. Barbas was watching them, anger in his light eyes, and that anger was aimed directly at Dean. Dean didn't realize that his cover was about to be completely blown, and part of him was too cocky to even consider that it was possible.

"The night is still young." Meg finally said, before getting up and walking across the hallway to Barbas. He stepped into the shadows as Dean turned to watch the dark-haired demon leave. Pulling out his cell phone, he quickly sent a text to Sam, making it clear that it was definitely Barbas. Now it was just time to lure him out.

Meg stopped in the shadows, "He's not Hellfire, is he?"

"No," Barbas shook his head, "That would be Dean Winchester. It surprises me that your father was after the Winchesters for so long and you don't know who they are."

"I never had a reason to meet them," Meg shrugged her shoulders, glancing across at the demon, "So, we have the Winchester here. We can get lure the other witches and kill them ourselves. What's the problem?"

"The real Hellfire is in the morgue and Steadwell isn't dead yet," Barbas sneered at the demon, "That's six witches I still need."

"I'll take care of it." Meg said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You better do." Barbas warned her, before disappearing before her eyes. The crossroad demon turned to face Dean, narrowing her eyes. How could she let herself get played like that?

* * *

Piper walked around on the phone, following Marti, who was singing while holding a cigar-shaped object. The woman had said something about a protection spell, but really it was just annoying for all the Halliwells and Winchesters, along with Andy and Darryl. When Piper had finaly had enough with the singing, she flicked her wrists. Getting more control over her powers, she was able to just freeze the over-perky witch and not the two inspectors with headaches.

"Who knew perky could be so annoying?" Andy asked, rubbing his temples.

"How long do you think I can keep her like this?" Piper ignored the inspector, while glancing across at her sister and cousins. Prue had disappeared back into the office, leaving the four of them to worry about Dean.

"Your power, your call," Phoebe shrugged her shoulders, "You reached Dean yet?"

"No, and I'm worried," Piper admitted, glancing across to Sam, "When did he said that text to you?"

"Three hours ago." Sam sighed, worried about the situation, too. Knowing that it was Barbas made it even worse. It new this wasn't like Dean to not answer his phone, unless he was stuck in a case. Knowing that it was Barbas and how much his family would worry, he'd answer his phone.

None of them had a chance to comment as the doorbell rang. Adam looked over at everyone else with a frown, "You think that's Dean?"

"Why would he ring his own doorbell?" Darryl had to ask, pointing out the obvious. It couldn't have been him. Phoebe quickly threw a blanket over the still frozen Marti, as Piper answered the door. She instantly grinned nervously when she saw Dan on the other side, holding a large board.

"Dan!" Piper couldn't help but glance over at Andy, who stepped forward, almost as if to protect her should something happen. Dan stepped into the house, placing the board on the carpet, while he talked. He couldn't help but frown at Andy, before turning his attention to Piper.

"Hey, I wanted to bring this over and leave it for my crew," he explained, hitting the board with one of his hands, "They're having trouble finding enough plywood. Is this not a good time?"

"Never," Piper said before she had chance to connect the filter. Tensing up, she quickly backtracked, "I mean, always. Why don't you come in? Come on back. Here, let me help you."

"I've got it." Dan chuckled, as he walked through the house with the board. It was big enough that he hadn't even noticed the blanket over the frozen person in the middle of the room, which Adam and Sam were currently trying to block with their larger forms. Dan, Piper and Andy walked into the living room, while Phoebe, Adam and Sam turned their attention back to Marti. Pulling the blanket off her, they waited for her to unfreeze. She instantly went back into singing her protection spell.

"You know, Marti, there's lots of rooms that need protecting upstairs." Adam offered, trying to lead her towards the stairs. Marti frowned, looking around, instantly realizing that there were people missing. Luckily, being a witch, Phoebe was able to cover their tracks by saying that Piper had cast a little spell of her own on her and Andy.

Mari accepted that, as she allowed Adam and Phoebe to lead her up the stairs. Sam and Darryl glanced towards the living room, where Dan had placed his plank of wood down.

"Why do I get the feeling that there's something I'm missing?" Darryl couldn't help but comment. The tension between the three in that room had been strong enough to cut with a knife. Sam sighed, shaking his head. He wished he knew, but he felt the exact same way.

***LINE BREAK HERE***

Meg had insisted that she return to Dean's apartment with him. This was something that needed to be handled in private. As they walked through, Meg kept a close eye on the imposter, anger bubbling inside her. Not only was she annoyed that she'd been fooled, but that this Dean Winchester was someone she could like. Of course, that was when she thought he was on her side; the one trying to kill Dean Winchester and the rest of the witches.

Once they'd stepped into the apartment, Meg closed the door and folded her arms, "Did you really think you could fool me? Get away with it?"

"I'm sorry?" Dean turned around, frowning at the crossroad demon. While his poker face gave no hint of emotions, inside he was starting to unravel. He realized that she had worked out he wasn't really Hellfire, and he hadn't contacted his family for a while.

"How did you do it?" Meg asked, "Hellfire was good. He'd already taken care of seven on the list with ease. How did you stop him killing your family? Or was it Prue? She's the one with telekinesis, right?"

Dean didn't bother keeping up the charade. Shrugging his shoulders, he smirked at her, "Actually, I put a bullet right between his eyes. Came from my own gun. He wasn't that great."

Meg was about to attack, but Barbas appeared behind her. Dean instantly looked at him, this time allowing his poker face to temporarily drop. There was a hint of fear in his green eyes, before he put his guard back up.

"So very nice to see you again, Mr. Winchester," Barbas stepped past Meg and then waved his arm in front of the hunter-witch. He chuckled, as he read Dean's greatest fear, "Can't say that I'm surprised with your history. Your greatest fear is that your whole family will be killed and there'd be no way of bringing anyone back this time," Barbas placed a hand on Dean's shoulder, looking into his green eyes, "Well, that's just happening right now. Demons are attacking your brothers and cousins and assumed their identities. You need to kill the imposters by midnight."

"Kill the imposters." Dean nodded his head, Barbas' magic taking over his mind. Meg just watched with glee as Dean walked out of the apartment, ready to kill his family—the people he believed to be the imposters. After that, she would get to kill the Dean Winchester.

* * *

When the phone went to voicemail once more, Sam slammed his cell phone on the dining table. Others around him jumped, but he didn't care. He'd had enough. Dean had to be in trouble. It would be the only reason not to pick up the phone right now.

"We need to find Dean," Sam sighed, "But we can't do that while baby-sitting little miss perky up there."

"Darryl and I can take her to the station," Andy offered, "Keep her under protection there. That would give you four the chance to find Dean."

"Thanks, Andy," Sam nodded, "That would be really helpful."

As they spoke, Adam and Phoebe followed Marti back down the stairs, Andy stood from the table as Darryl stepped forward from where he was leaning on the door frame to the sun room, "Miss Steadwell, you will have to come with Inspector Morris and me."

"Okay," Phoebe grinned, "Thanks for everything, Marti. Bye!"

"Oh, but what about the protection here..."

"We need to talk about the explosion at your shop," Darryl explained, picking up a reason quickly, "It's best that we do it at the station. You'll be safer there anyway."

Marti chuckled at the comment, making a point about the inspector having it backwards. She was the one offering the best protection for the sisters, and it would do wonders for the two inspectors.

"Well, we thank you for that protection spell," Sam smiled politely, "Thank you so much and now we have to go."

As the two inspectors left with the witch practitioner, Prue walked in through the door, looking like she was ready to kill someone. Her sisters and cousins weren't giving her the chance to take a breath, grabbing her they pulled her back outside and to one of the cars. It was time to get proactive in searching for Dean.

* * *

The five witches walked into the apartment of Talbot, everyone except Prue looking around in awe. They hadn't seen the place yet, and couldn't help but take in all the features. It definitely paid to be a hit man.

"Are you sure that was the Porsche parked out front?" Adam asked, following his brother and cousins through the apartment.

"Positive," Piper nodded her head, "Dean's here somewhere."

"Let's just hope he's alone," Phoebe mentioned, just as Dean walked in from another room. There was a darkness in his eyes, but none of them saw it right away. Phoebe just grinned seeing her cousin still alive, "Dean."

"We've been so worried." Sam said, stepping forward. Instead of getting a warm response, Dean raised his gun and fired at his brother. Sam instantly ducked, shocked at the bullet had actually hit a vase next to him. The girls screamed, as Adam pulled Phoebe back, into the kitchen.

"Dean?" Sam held up his hands in defense, trying to get through to his brother. Dean fired his pistol again, but Sam dropped out of the way, taking Prue with him. Piper quickly shrieked and flicked her wrists.

"You mimic their powers, too?" Dean snarled before stepping forward.

"Piper, freeze him," Prue shouted at her sister, but Piper shook her head. Good witches don't freeze, "He doesn't look so good right now."

"I won't let you kill my family." Dean aimed the gun at Piper. He was just about to fire as Prue waved her hand. A plate on a stand in the hallway flew through the air towards Dean. He ducked out of the way of the plate, giving Sam, Prue and Piper a chance to rush down the hallway and into the bedroom.

Meanwhile, Phoebe and Adam remained in the kitchen, able to see the commotion threw the gap in the door. Phoebe shook her head, "He doesn't know who we are."

"We need to confuse him," Adam nodded, "Make him see two of us."

"How do you suppose we do that?" Phoebe whispered, seeing the grin form on Adam's face. He needed to get through to his brother and cousins in the other room, while making sure Dean remained with them. Grabbing his phone, Adam text Sam.

Feeling the vibration in his pocket, Sam was going to ignore his phone but then remembered Adam and Phoebe were in another room. Quickly checking it, he shook his head as he realized what his brother's plan was.

"Prue, you need to astral project," Sam said, "Make Dean see two of you."

"What? How will that help?" Prue asked.

"Just do it!"

Prue didn't question again. Just as Dean walked into the bedroom, she willed herself to be on the other side of him. Suddenly, she felt herself leave her body and appeared on the other side of the room, behind Dean.

"Hey, Dean!" Prue shouted out, making Dean frown. He turned to face her and then looked back at the other Prue—the one who now had her eyes closed and was next to Sam and Prue. Adam and Phoebe ran in behind the astral form of Prue, watching Dean carefully. Confusion was evident in his eyes, as he tried to work out who the enemy was.

"Dean, we're not the enemy," Adam explained, "Barbas brainwashed you somehow. We're your family. How else would Prue do that? You really think they'd find out about her new power within 24 hours?"

Dean shook his head, looking between the two forms of his elder cousin again. He raised his gun at the astral form, "One of you has to be the imposter."

"Dean, we're your family," Phoebe shook her head, "Listen to me. You gave me the chicken pox, remember?"

"You thought you could give me the best tips to lose my virginity." Sam pointed out from the other side of the room. Dean narrowed his eyes, glancing at his younger brother.

"You broke your ankle when you were eleven," Piper reminded him, "You hated being stuck inside all summer. Swore off rollerblades forever after that."

"How do you know all this?" Dean asked, looking between his family, just as Prue's astral form disappeared in front of him. Shaking his head, he glanced at the real Prue.

"We're your family, Dean."

"Family," Dean nodded his head, lowering the gun in his hands. Phoebe took the gun from her cousin, as everyone ran over to hug him, "Barbas is a dead man."

"Let's stay low until midnight and he'll disappear back to where the hell it is he came from." Piper suggested, trying to get everyone out of the apartment, but Dean shook his head. It wasn't going to be that easy anymore. Barbas knew how to escape the underworld early. He knew what rules would and wouldn't apply to him now, and Dean wasn't going to take any chances. It was time to show him his greatest fear.

* * *

It was a hour or so later, just three minutes to midnight, that Barbas and Meg appeared in the apartment. Barbas was instantly blaming the crossroad demon, who glared at the doomed demon, "I didn't come to you. You came to me, remember?"

Dean stepped out from the bedroom, eyeing both the demons in front of him. Barbas tilted his head, "Are they dead?"

"They're right where they belong." Dean explained, just as his cousins and brothers walked in from various rooms in the apartment. Before Barbas had a chance to say or do anything, Dean flicked his wrists. The two demons in front of him froze on the spot.

"Who's she?" Prue asked, motioning over to Meg.

"Meg, some demon," Dean explained, "Think she had something to do with my dad. We'll deal with her later, though. Barbas is our main priority right now."

As the clock started to chime, Dean flicked his wrists again. The two demons unfroze, and Barbas instantly realized the time. He screamed, as she spun in a circle, engulfed in flames. Meg covered her eyes, as Barbas burned up and just disappeared on the spot. Nothing on the carpet showed any sign that there had been a fire in the room.

Meg glanced over at Dean, a smirk forming on her lips, "We'll meet again, cowboy."

"You can count on it," Dean nodded his head, just as Meg clicked her fingers and disappeared from their sights. Everyone looked at Dean, who looked around the apartment with a forlorn look, "You know, I'm gonna miss some of this life."

"One day, not even that," Sam chuckled, "But I have to admit, you looked good."

* * *

The next morning, Prue smirked as she answered the door to see Jack on the other side. He looked at her with a danger in his eyes, as he crossed the threshold and waited for Prue to close the door. Prue just waited for him to say something, knowing what it had to be.

"I don't know how you did it," Jack shook his head, "You were hardly with me yesterday, and somehow you get $275,000 worth of items to sell. How?"

"When I wasn't with you, I was actually working, you know," Prue shrugged her shoulders, "I work better alone. Always have."

There was nothing else to say. Jack just shook his head, and walked back out of the house. Prue turned around to face Dean, who was standing by the kitchen door, "You're welcome." Pretending to be Talbot had been useful for Prue. The gifts that Meg had given—and Dean soon realized there were a few when he went through the apartment—had been more than enough to help Prue save her job. It was the least he could do since he'd tried to kill her and the rest of his family.

Prue grinned as she walked over to her cousin, allowing him to wrap his arm around her shorter form and pull her into the kitchen. Inside, the rest of the four witches were scattered in various positions, waiting for Piper to finish breakfast. Andy and Darryl sat at the table, listening to everything that had happened while they protected Marti.

"Hey, you never said how breakfast with Jo and Ellen went yesterday." Sam pointed out, looking over at his brother who was grabbing a mug of coffee by now. Dean leaned on the counter, wishing that this wasn't a conversation he had to have. He'd still not heard from Jo since yesterday morning, and he hadn't built up the courage—well, not quite courage but want—to call Ellen.

"Erm, yeah, about that," Dean sighed, finally finding the words to tell them, "I don't think we have to worry too much," Dean turned around to face his family, his lower back resting on the top of the counter and his left foot crossing over his right at the ankle, "Ellen already knew our secret. Dad told her."

"Dad?" Adam asked with a frown, "Why would dad tell her that?"

"I don't have all the answers, but Dad trusted her," Dean shrugged his shoulders, folding his arms across his chest, "She never told Jo until now, and Ash now knows. But we can trust them. Ellen set up the Roadhouse here to help protect us."

"She doesn't have a problem with us being witches?" Piper asked, "I mean, she's a hunter, right?"

"Her husband was, yeah," Dean nodded, "But she understands that we're good and we protect innocents. Jo will come round, I think. That's not to say other hunters will understand but we can trust the Harvelles."

There was a silence in the room, but a good one. They were all relieved that Ellen had turned out to be a good egg. The silence was finally broken by Piper, as she finally decided it was time to tell her family the truth, "Speaking of hunters, there is one we need to watch out for."

"Who?" Phoebe asked, worry filling her eyes.

Piper glanced across at Andy and then back at her family, "It's Dan."

"What!" Dean's eyes grew wide. The idea of a hunter on their doorstop scared him more than the idea of one just randomly turning up. And they'd let the man into their house; let him fix their living room window after it was completely destroyed by Talbot the previous morning.

"It looks that way anyway," Andy now spoke up, "I've been doing some digging and his rap sheet is like yours was, Dean. Grave desecration, credit card fraud, mail fraud...there's a long list of stuff on there, and it all looks like he's a hunter."

"It makes sense after seeing the arsenal he has in his house," Piper sighed, "I saw it a few weeks ago. I guess Jenny is training to be one, too."

The six witches looked at each other, worry and fear evidently in the room. Prue took a deep breath as she nodded her head, "I guess we have someone we really need to keep an eye on then."

There was a tension in the room, as all the witches and the two inspectors knew that they would have to be on watch. Any sign that Dan knew about their powers and was after them, and they would have no choice but to protect themselves. The question was how to do that without killing him. After all, he wasn't evil—he would believe they were the evil ones. This was going to be tricky.

 **Guest Cast List:**

Dorian Gregory as Darryl

Samantha Ferris as Ellen

Rachel Miner as Meg

Billy Drago as Barbas

Hynden Walch as Marti Steadwell

Carlo Castronovo as Hellfire/Talbot

* * *

 **Please R &R.**

 **I promise to have the next episode up on Friday next week. There shouldn't be a reason for me to allow all the days roll into one. Episode 10 is a rewrite of the Charmed episode of Heartbreak City and Supernatural's Route 666.**


	10. Episode 10: Sadness Flies Away On

**I didn't forget the day! Yay!**

 **Thank you so much for the feedback I've received on the last episode. I've just not had time to reply personally to everyone. Work is still manic...very manic...and it's going to be like that until the schools go back :( That's another couple of weeks.**

 **Anyway, here is episode 10 for you all to enjoy. One more and then I'll take a wee break between, like a winter hiatus of sorts, so I can get a few more episodes written and get ahead again.**

Episode 10: Sadness Flies Away On Wings of Cupids

Cupid watched with pride seeing Max and Cindy together. It was a relationship he'd been building for some time. The two had really struggled to take the next step, both hurt in previous relationships for various reasons. All they needed was a little nudge in the right direction. Now that they'd had that, they'd finally decided to go for coffee.

It was a start. That was all Cupid cared about. That start would lead to more. No, the relationship may not work out in the end, but these two deserved a chance. They needed to give each other a chance.

Once his two charges had gone off for coffee, Cupid turned and walked out of the large building. Turning right, he went down an alleyway, where he would be able to magically transport away from. The only problem was he was stopped as two hands grabbed his back. Before Cupid knew it, he had been thrown against a wall of the alleyway, and then a short, dark-haired demon stood in front of him.

"Hello, friend," the demon said, "I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Drazi." Cupid hissed, instantly recognizing the man. As a Cupid, he only had one type of demon to fear; one that would rarely come after him. But this particular member of the clan was out for blood—Cupid's blood.

"Couldn't leave it alone, could ya?" Drazi sneered, throwing Cupid into a set of wooden boxes in the alleyway. The wood broke underneath him, making him cringe as the feeling of splinters and larger bits of wood force their way through his clothes and into his skin, "You just had to get in the way."

"You crossed the line." Cupid warned him.

"I am the line. You're the one," Drazi shouted, walking over to the fallen cupid, "That went too far and now you're gonna pay."

Before Cupid could do anything, Drazi forced his hand through his chest, grabbing his heart. Cupid cried out in pain, tears prickling his eyes at the feeling of the hand around his heart. It was killing him, and with one tug he knew that the demon could pull his heart out.

"How does it feel, huh?" Drazi asked, a darkness in his eyes, "I can tell ya. I know. Thanks to you, I know what it feels like to have your heart ripped out. You don't want to feel that pain, do you?" Drazi released Cupid's heart, throwing him back on the ground. Cupid hadn't even realized he'd been lifted up while Drazi was inside his chest. While he grabbed his chest with his right hand, Drazi stood on Cupid's left and looked down at the red ring on his finger, "Your little magic ring you use to slip in there between the heart beats, plant your little thoughts of love. I'm gonna borrow it. I'm gonna use it to tear apart some of your more recent reunions. And maybe some of your longer standing ones."

"No, Drazi." Cupid pleased, but Drazi wasn't listening. He grabbed the ring, scratching Cupid's fourth finger as he pulled it forcefully.

"I'm gonna turn love into hate and that hate is going to slowly and painfully kill you," Drazi stepped away, looking at the ruby ring, "And you're gonna wish I had ripped your heart out."

With that, Drazi disappeared in a flash of green. Cupid was left looking down the alleyway, still grabbing his chest at the faint sense of pain from where Drazi had previously held his heart. If he was going to save his own life now, he would have to act fast. And there was only one place he could go.

* * *

The six witches walked away from the movie theater, after enjoying their first normal night out as a family in what felt like forever. It had meant to be dates for some of them, but Andy had had to work late, Sarah had the flu and Phoebe's mystery date had just cancelled at the last minute with no reason. Piper, Dean and Adam happily took the spare tickets, even if it meant watching some chick-flick, which Dean wouldn't have usually chosen.

It was just good to get out, without having to deal with demons, creatures or hunters.

Speaking of hunters, they still hadn't figured out what to do with Dan. He was clearly interested in Piper, and she was playing along for now—although playing coy. Not that Leo enjoyed that. He'd been back a few times and wasn't happy that Dan was around. Nobody had told him that Dan was a suspected hunter, yet, but there was something about the man that Leo didn't trust; maybe that was just because of his attraction to Piper.

"Why do I feel like I'm going through an epidemic of date cancellations?" Phoebe asked with a sigh, linking her arm through Dean's as they walked down the street.

"He doesn't know what he's missing." Dean stated, but Piper couldn't help but remind Phoebe of what happened when someone cancelled. Prue joined in with a grin, as they threw a number of Monopoly terms about not passing go and throwing out all accrued nookie cards.

Adam frowned, as he looked between his three female cousins, "There's a penalty?"

"Oh yeah!" the three women agreed at the same time, making the three male cousins look at each other with raised eyebrows.

"You know, this glimpse into feminine mystery frightens me to no end," Dean chuckled as they walked, "Are you gonna do some of that to Sarah for cancelling?"

"She has the flu," Sam pointed out, making it clear that it meant a no.

"That's what she told you," Dean winked and then looked over at Prue, "Does that mean you're gonna be mean to Andy."

"He had a legitimate reason," Prue shook her head, "Kevin just cancelled without one. That's different."

Dean cell phone rang, stopping him from even thinking about answering back with something witty. They continued to walk, as Dean answered the call, frowning as soon as he saw the name pop up, "Cassie? Hey, slow down!"

Dean broke away from Phoebe, falling back from the group as he listened to the woman on the other end of the phone. The others continued to discuss the movie and then decided whether to go for coffee or not.

"I think I'm gonna call it a night," Phoebe admitted, still upset that her date had cancelled on her. As the others argued for her to come along with her, Dean joined them again.

"I'm gonna give coffee a miss and get back home," Dean told them, a frown still on his freckled features, "That was an, uh, old friend," he wasn't going into the full details about the girl right now. It wasn't something he wanted to revisit, "Her father was killed last night. Thinks it might be our kinda thing."

"What?" The group of witches looked at him, realizing that this was someone who either knew about supernatural or magic.

"Yeah, believe me, she never woulda called, never, if she didn't need me," Dean said, "So, I'm gonna drive out tonight."

"You can't go alone," Sam shook his head, "It's Thanksgiving and I actually have some time off. I'll come with you."

"Me, too!" Adam agreed, and it was clear to Dean that this wasn't up for discussion. The three Winchesters made their way back down the street towards their home, leaving the Halliwell sisters to decide about coffee.

"I'm still gonna call it," Phoebe smiled, "You two enjoy your coffee."

"You know, Kevin sucks." Piper grinned, hugging her sister. Prue joined in, before letting Phoebe go and leaving her to catch up with her three cousins. Once the two eldest Halliwells left, Phoebe turned and instantly walked into a tall, chubby man with curly brown hair. His mustard-colored jacket didn't match his red t-shirt, but he didn't seem to care.

"I need your help." The man said to her, before Phoebe had a chance to apologize for not watching where she was walking. He grabbed her, making her eyes go wide. Where were her sisters and cousins when she could do with their help.

"Let go of me."

"Hate will destroy me and everything else if you don't help me." The man said, thinking in hindsight that this wasn't the way to approach her.

"Hey!" A male voice called out behind them, and then there was the sound of footsteps, "Let go of her!"

The next thing Phoebe knew was the man who had grabbed her was running away and Dan had appeared as if out of nowhere. Just after him, Prue, Piper and her three Winchester cousins had joined them, hearing the commotion.

"Are you okay?" Dan asked, checking over Phoebe. The others couldn't help but watch him carefully, wondering how he'd just happened to be there at that time.

"Uh, yeah." Phoebe nodded, rushing over to Prue, who wrapped her arms around her baby sister.

"What was that about?"

"I'm not sure." That was all Phoebe could say, looking back in the direction the man had run. Something that he'd said had really stuck out to her, but she'd been too panicked to consider it at the time. _Hate will destroy me and everything else..._ what did he mean by hate?

* * *

Opening credits roll

* * *

Phoebe still didn't feel that secure the next morning. It made it worse knowing that Dean and Sam were out on the road overnight with Adam, so not there to protect the three women in the house. Not that they needed protecting; well, not that Phoebe was going to admit to.

Another uneasy thought was Dan next door. He'd turned up just at the right time. He'd said he was leaving after dropping Jenny off at the movies with her friends, but something just seemed off. Phoebe didn't remember seeing a group of girls Jenny's age in the movie theater that night. She couldn't help but wonder whether Dan knew they were witches. But if he did, surely he would have attacked by now.

The house was eerily quiet. Prue had gone over to see Andy once his shift had finished and Piper had gone into the club early that morning to do some of the paperwork. It left Phoebe home completely alone. She'd feel much better once her Winchester cousins were back.

"You're gonna need a new lock on that back door." A man's voice told her, and she instantly recognized it as the strange man the night before. Turning around, Phoebe kicked the man in the mouth and then went back into a stance ready to attack as he fell onto the stairs.

"I'm getting rather used to you kicking love in the teeth." The man in the mustard-colored jacket said. He hadn't changed from the night before, and Phoebe now wondered whether he was a creepy homeless stalker. Just another thing that she really needed to add to her list of things to worry about.

"Who are you and what do you want?" She asked, narrowing her brown eyes at him.

"More importantly, I know who you are, Phoebe. And that's why I'm here," he explained, holding his hands up in defense, "I need your help. Charmed Ones kind of help."

"I will ask one more time. Who are you?" There was a warning in her voice that told the man to tell her the truth, but he skirted around it telling her that she wouldn't believe it. After everything she'd seen over the last year or so, it wasn't likely. It was time for him to give her a name.

"Well, for lack of a better name," the man said with a shrug, "Cupid."

Phoebe just stared at the man, dumbstruck. Cupid? She actually had the real Cupid in her home?

* * *

The Impala cruised along the highway to Missouri. It wasn't often that Dean took a trip across stateliness anymore. Had it not been for the incident in St. Louis when he was visiting a friend—dealing with the death of his baby brother—he probably wouldn't have left California after hearing that Adam was alive and well.

But he couldn't just sit back. The idea of his _friend_ calling had set him on edge. She wouldn't call, not after the way their last conversation had gone. It wasn't something that he really wanted to relive, but it was clear during the journey to Missouri that he wasn't going to get a choice. Sam and Adam wanted to know more; more importantly, how this _friend_ knew their secret.

"By _old friend_ you mean...?" Sam started, trying to get more information out of his elder brother.

"A friend that's not new." Dean evaded the question with a shrug of his shoulders, and continued to keep his eyes on the road.

"Oh yeah, thanks." Sam rolled his eyes, looking back at Adam so he could have a go. Adam tried, pointing out that Dean had never mentioned this Cassie girl this whole time.

"Didn't I?" Dean asked, knowing that he never brought her up. There wasn't really any reason to bring her up, but he would play along with their little game of 20 questions for now. After a long pause, Dean sighed and nodded his head, "Yeah, we went out."

"You mean you dated somebody?" Sam raised his eyebrows, knowing what his brother was like before the prospect of being with Jo came up, "For more than one night?"

"Am I speaking a language you're not getting here?" Dean asked, glancing in the rear-view mirror at Adam who was smirking in the backseat. Dean just rolled his eyes at his brothers, and gave them a little more information about the girl they were going to see. They were going to find out some of it anyway, "Dad and I were working a job in Ohio, she was finishing up college. We went out for a coupla weeks."

"And...?" Adam asked, leaning forward on the front bench seat with interest. It wasn't often that Dean opened up about the things he did when he went on hunts with their dad, but it looked like that was all he was getting. Sam sighed, glancing down at his phone where he'd pulled up the report of the case.

It was terrible. The girl had lost her dad in a freak car accident, but it sounded very normal. It didn't sound like anything magical or supernatural, "By the way, how does she know what we do?"

"Well, she knows what I used to do," Dean pointed out, "Nothing about us being witches."

Sam narrowed his eyes and then glanced at Adam, shaking his head, "He told her. He told her the secret. I thought before we became witches, the whole hunter thing was a secret? I mean, we didn't even get to know and you told her? You go out with her a coupla times and tell her everything."

Dean didn't say a word. He kept his eyes on the road, his jaw clenched.

"Dean!" Sam shouted.

"Yeah. Looks like." Dean nodded, and then put his foot down. He needed to get to Missouri as soon as possible, especially now that Sam was pulling his bitch face, which must have been #1052 since just leaving California!

* * *

Piper sat at one of the tables looking through the paperwork. It felt good to see all the figures in black, knowing that there was enough to pay all the bills and have extra for the club. A few weeks ago she'd panicked that she'd made the biggest mistake of all. But she was able to pay off the loan on the house, and was even putting some money in a savings account for Sam so he could have his college funds back. While he may not need them for school, he could use them for something else in the future.

"Okay, we have got a very big problem," Phoebe shouted, as she rushed down the stairs of the club, a man close behind her. Piper instantly recognized him as the man from the night before, and she got up from her seat, "Oh, Piper, Cupid. Cupid, Piper."

"Hi, sorry to interrupt your...erm...paperwork." Cupid smiled nervously with a wave.

"Phoebe, what are you doing here and with him?" Piper ignored the man and looked directly at her sister. The man quickly went into a story about how a Demon of hate had stolen his ring and was going to use it to find all the loves he'd put together to destroy them—and in turn destroy him. Piper didn't want to believe him until Phoebe said that this Demon of Hate was in the Book of Shadows, and was called Drazi.

"Prue is on her way home and I've got the ingredients for the potion," Phoebe smiled, "Can you please come home now so we can deal with this?"

There wasn't anything that Piper could say against it. With a sigh, she nodded her head and motioned for them to leave the club. She would deal with the paperwork later.

"How did you get here, by the way?"

"Don't tell him but I borrowed Sam's car." Phoebe admitted, quickly rushing out of the club.

* * *

On the other side of San Francisco, Max and Cindy were sharing a coffee. They hadn't realized that Drazi was standing nearby, watching them intently. The ring he'd stolen from Cupid had now turned black, and glowed to let him know that these were two people growing more and more in love with each other. It was perfect for him to destroy.

* * *

Back at the Halliwell-Winchester Manor, the three Charmed sisters and Cupid were now all together. Prue and Piper were still uncertain about the man in front of them; uncertain that they were really dealing with a cupid—more like the Cupid; the boss of all cupids, according to the man.

Cupid couldn't help but chuckle at their lack of trust. They could believe in warlocks, demons and ghosts but not in cupid. It didn't make sense, really, but there was a part of him that understood. He was something routed in mythology and something good. Considering how little good the Charmed Ones had come across, it wasn't really that surprising that they struggled to trust him.

"Where's the chubby baby?" Piper couldn't help but ask, "And the bow and arrow?"

"Where's the warty chins, hooked noses and pointy hats?" Cupid retorted, making both Prue and Piper smile.

"Touché!" Piper said with a laugh, nodding her head.

"Why don't you show us something supernatural?" Prue asked, still wanting some sort of proof. Unfortunately for Cupid he couldn't do that. With his ring gone, his powers were too. He wouldn't be able to 'get in.'

"Get in?"

"To people's hearts, to waken love," Cupid explained, "Drazi's all about hate and he's gonna use the ring to get in the same way."

The two elder Halliwell sisters were still not convinced. Shaking their heads, the still wanted some sort of proof. There was only one way that he could prove all this, and luckily he'd been the one responsible for some of them personally.

"Andy," Cupid said to Prue, "Eric in London and Alec in college," while Prue took those in, Cupid turned to Piper, "Not Jeremy, Joe in college, Barry in high school, Tim in eighth grade. And maybe you could give Neighbor Dan a chance? Yes, he's a hunter but it could work," finally, he turned to Phoebe, "Clay, Ken, Kyle, Steve, Mike, Ken again, Brian, Joel, Martin, Peter, Paul, Tony..."

"I didn't love all those guys!" Phoebe's eyes widened as she realized just how many men she really had been through.

"They wanted to love you, but you closed your heart," Cupid explained, "That's what sent them away. I've also worked with Sam and Jess, Dean and Jo and now Sam and Sarah. Adam and...well, he won't admit it but he's as bad as Dean when it comes to multiple women, especially now that he's in college."

The sisters couldn't help but chuckle at the comment about their youngest and eldest cousins. Well, the two eldest couldn't help it. Phoebe narrowed her eyes, as she focused on something Cupid had previously said, "What do you mean I closed my heart? No I didn't."

"Look, if people get the feeling that there's nothing there, then eventually it's hasta la vista, Phoebe. That explains the recent rush of cancelled dates."

"So, you made our past and current relationships happened?" Prue now asked, but Cupid shook his head. His recent assignments had only been over the last four years. He'd been there for Andy, Jess and even Jo. He and other agents worked in secret all over the world, and there were plenty of them to give love a chance.

"What about Leo? Did you connect us?"

"Uh, no," Cupid shook his head, "That was the work of you two. Some connections are forbidden. The one between a witch and her white lighter...no, we have nothing to do with that."

"Hey, can we go back to the hasta la vista remark?" Phoebe asked, but there was no time to talk about her closed heart. Drazi was more important, and they still needed to make a potion for that. The good news was that the two were connected. Each could sense each other, due to the fine line between love and hate.

The doorbell ringing caught the four of them off-guard. Piper rushed over to find Dan on the other side, "I thought I'd see how Phoebe was after last night."

As the other three stepped into the view of the door, Dan instantly recognized the man from the night before. He stepped forward, his hand instinctively going for the back of his jeans. Knowing what he was, Piper watched carefully and then quickly flicked her wrists. Dan and Cupid both froze on the spot, giving Piper more than enough time to life Dan's t-shirt to see a gun tucked into his belt. She shook her head and glanced at her sisters, "I can't believe we never saw this before. He really is a hunter."

"Well, we haven't got time for him right now," Prue sighed, "Let's get rid of him somehow and work on Drazi."

Piper got back in position and flicked her wrists again. Placing her hands on Dan's chest, she smiled sweetly. Dan looked down at her, with caution in his eyes, "That's the guy from last night."

"It's okay," Piper shook her head, "It was a friend of Prue's. Phoebe just didn't recognize him last night."

"I'd had a few too many, too." Cupid smiled with a wave, "Dan, right? Piper's told me a lot about you. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Dan kept his eyes on the other man in the room, as Piper convinced him that they were safe. They weren't stupid enough to let any old stranger into the house.

"Let me know if you need anything, okay?" Dan told her, "I don't like the idea of your cousins being out of town."

With that, Dan left them to their work, but Piper couldn't help but feel uneasy. Had Dan watched Dean, Sam and Adam leave the night before? They definitely hadn't said anything to him, and the Impala being gone could have meant Dean had gone to work.

* * *

There wasn't time for the sisters to worry about Dan, though. Still on the other side of San Francisco, Cindy and Max had now moved onto walking around the market stalls, Max buying some flowers for his new girlfriend. They didn't have roses, but Cindy was just happy to receive something from this man; the man she'd put off talking to for so long in fear of getting hurt.

Just as they kissed, they didn't feel time slow around them. Drazi stepped in between the heart beats and put thoughts into their heads, "Cindy, could you be a bigger fool? He's still sleeping with his ex-wife. He looks at you as a desperate, lonely woman. Easy sex.

"Max, she's nothing but a gold digging tramp, who wants to hit your big fat wallet, just as soon marry ya and kill you for the insurance. Bye bye."

With that, Drazi disappeared and left everything as it was before. Cindy narrowed her eyes, shaking her head. She couldn't muster up anything else but to call the man in front of her pathetic.

The two soon found themselves in a shouting match, with Max walking into the road. His vision was clouded with so much hatred that he never saw the taxi coming towards him. The driver didn't have time to stop. The sound of the horn beeping was the last thing Max heard before he felt himself hit the windshield and then lose consciousness.

Just as that happened, Cupid on the other side of the city grabbed his chest in pain. The breaking up of this couple, the killing of love was killing him. It would only be a matter of time that Cupid would cease to exist as love died out.

* * *

It hadn't taken too much longer for Dean to get to Missouri once he put his foot down. Cassie had already told him where he'd be able to find her, so headed straight for the newspaper's office that she now worked at. As soon as he and his two brothers walked in, he could sense there was an argument that he didn't want to get into. An aging black man was arguing with an aging, overweight white man about the news being placed in the newspaper. Dean smiled as he watched Cassie standing between the two men, her curly black hair hanging down, loose like he remembered it.

"No, I think you're telling us what you want us to print and what you want us to sit on." Cassie told the white man, who turned out to be the mayor of the town.

"I know you're upset, Cassie," the mayor said with some sympathy in his voice, "I liked your dad a lot. But I think your grief is clouding your judgment."

Dean soon realized that there was something to do with race in all this, just like Cassie had suspected when she had called Dean the night before. As the mayor left, walking past the three brothers, Dean felt caught in headlights, just staring at Cassie. She'd spotted him at that moment, and he couldn't help but grin at her as she just stared. There was a sort of relief on her face the moment she spotted the eldest Winchester, "Dean."

"Hey, Cassie." Dean nodded once, his hands going into the pockets of his jeans. Sam and Adam remained beside their brother, smirking at each other as they realized there was a lot more to this relationship than Dean had told them in the car. Dean finally cleared his throat, before introducing his two brothers and then finally said something he'd tried to say on the phone, "Sorry 'bout your dad."

"Yeah, me, too," Cassie nodded, "I heard about yours, too. I'm sorry about that. He didn't..."

"No, it's a long and complicated story." Dean shook his head, knowing exactly what she was going to say. After that, there was an awkward silence between the two former lovers, and all the younger two Winchesters could do was watch and smile.

* * *

It took a while for them to move from the office of the local newspaper, but Dean had finally suggested that they go somewhere to talk. He offered Cassie a lift back to her house, finding out that she was staying with her mother after the accident, who had been shaken up by it. When they finally got to her mother's house and Cassie was able to make tea—Dean would never understand why she drank tea and not coffee but left her to it—it was time to get into the details of the crash. It had sounded like something normal, but Dean knew Cassie too well to believe that she would mistake something like this.

"Mom's been so nervous and frightened. She was worried about Dad." Cassie explained, taking a mouthful of her tea. Sam and Adam sat on the couch opposite, holding their cups politely but neither drinking from them. Dean leaned forward on the chair arm, taking a mouthful of the tea. He quickly disguised the distaste, placing the cup back on the tray.

"Why?" Dean asked, realizing that there was more to this than she'd said on the phone.

"He was scared," Cassie explained, "Seeing things. He swore he saw an awful looking black truck following him."

"Who was the driver?" Sam couldn't help but ask, but Cassie shook her head. There was never a mention of the driver. It was all about the truck that would appear and disappear without any rhyme or reason.

"And, in the accident, Dad's car was dented, like it had been slammed into by something big."

"You're sure this dent wasn't there before?"

Cassie shook her head. The car wouldn't have had a scratch on it, because working as a car dealer he always had a new one. To make matters worse, there were no tracks leading to the car except his own, despite it raining heavily that night. With that dent, there should have been something. She couldn't help but look at Dean, who narrowed his eyes, "You said the first victim was a friend of your dad's?"

"Best friend," Cassie nodded her head, "Clayton Soames. They owned the dealership together," Cassie got her emotions under control before she continued, "Same thing. Dent. No tracks. And the cops said exactly what they said about dad. He 'lost control of his car.'"

As Adam said something about the vanishing truck running them off the road, Cassie backed up defensively, "Listen, I'm a little skeptical about this...ghost stuff...or whatever it is you guys are into."

"Skeptical?" Dean huffed, shaking his head, earning glares from his two brothers, "If I remember, I think you said I was nuts."

"That was then," the two exes stared at each other, before Cassie finally continued without an apology, "I just know that I can't explain what happened up there. So I called you."

The tension in the room built until the sound of a door opening could be heard. The two younger Halliwells couldn't help but glance across as a middle-aged white woman walked into the room. The three brothers quickly got to their feet, as Cassie rushed over to take the woman's arm, "Mom, where have you been? I was so..."

"I had no idea you'd invited friends over." The woman said, glancing at the three men.

"Mom, this is Dean, a...friend of mine...from...college," Cassie stuttered, trying to find the right words, "And his brothers, Sam and Adam."

"Well, I won't interrupt you." The woman smiled, making her way out of the room, but Dean cleared his throat to talk to her.

"Mrs. Robinson, we're sorry for your loss," he said, and then quickly glanced at Cassie before continue, "We'd like to talk to you for a minute if you don't mind?"

The woman shook her head, making it clear that she wasn't up to that right now. As she left the room, the brothers and Cassie all looked at each other. There was certainly more to this than any of them were letting on.

What they hadn't realized was that the black truck that Cassie's dad had seen the night before just before his death was real and it was outside the small house. It's engine revved before backing up and suddenly disappearing.

* * *

Cupid and the sisters had just reached the accident to see Max on a stretcher, being loaded into the ambulance. They could hear Cindy tell the policeman how a man like him deserved to be hit by a car, especially one that he walked into. There was definitely hatred in her voice, and Phoebe couldn't help but feel sorry for Cupid.

"I matched Cindy and Max up last night," Cupid explained to the three witches, "She was afraid to risk love, too."

"Are you picking on me?" Phoebe asked, getting defenseless about everything that Cupid had told her earlier, "You know, it's not easy finding love while demon hunting."

"Prue is managing it, Sam is, even Dean and he was a bit of a tougher cookie to crack." Cupid explained. It was enough for Phoebe to hold her hands up and shake her head. They needed to get on with this and find Drazi. He was still here somewhere, Cupid could feel him. Looking around the crowd, Cupid spotted Drazi leaning against a wall, watching the whole commotion and enjoying it. As soon as Drazi spotted Cupid and the three Charmed Ones, he walked away.

"He's getting away," Cupid said, "Do you have the potion?"

"Yes." Phoebe said as they ran in the direction Drazi had taken off. It was soon clear that they weren't going to catch up to him. Prue did the only thing she could think of, since he was too far away for Piper to freeze him. She willed herself to get over to him right now and appeared right in the spot. Drazi stopped, eyes wide, clearly not expecting her magic.

Waving her hand, Prue frowned. Nothing happened and she had to think on her feet. Grabbing a plank of wood that was lying around, she hit him over the head, knocking him out instantly. That gave her chance to project back in her body and rush back over to the demon with her two sisters and the Cupid. But Prue had to stop to recover from the astral projecting. As much as she loved it, she really needed to get used to it.

While Prue recovered, the other two sisters and Cupid caught up with Drazi who was coming around from being knocked out. He glanced at Cupid with a smirk, "Hiding behind witches skirts?"

"Stealing things that don't belong to you?" Piper retorted before freezing him on the spot. Turning to Phoebe, she shouted, "Okay, go."

Prue rounded the corner just as Phoebe threw the potion and Drazi unfroze. He turned to black goo, the ring turning too. Cupid frowned. That wasn't supposed to happen, but at least it looked like they'd taken care of the Demon of Hate.

Now all Cupid needed was some help getting back to the rest of the agents. Without his ring, he didn't have an powers to get home. As they all left the quiet street, they didn't realize that the black good reversed and turned back into Drazi. The Charmed Ones hadn't gotten him after all.

* * *

Later that night in Missouri, the Winchesters received a call from Cassie to say there'd been another accident. The man who she had been with at the newspaper while talking to the mayor had been in an accident, under very similar circumstances as her dad. Dean made his way over to the scene with his brothers, finding himself in the midst of another argument that was clearly about race.

When Cassie instigated that the mayor was being racist by not closing the stretch of road, the mayor looked genuinely hurt and taken aback. Sam couldn't help but feel like there was more to this. The more he remained in the town, the more he agreed that this was something supernatural. There was more that he'd realized, though. Every now and then he'd caught looks between Dean and Cassie, when neither thought they were looking at each other. There was some sort of unfinished business between the two of them, and Sam was ready to get to the bottom of that.

He was able to do that once he got back to the motel room with his brothers. The next morning, they'd decided it was time to do some more research in the town, posing as employees of Jimmy's insurance company. While getting dressed in their monkey suits—not any that Dean had found while assuming the identity of Talbot a couple of weeks ago—Sam brought up the subject.

"I'll say this for her, she's fearless," Sam said, looking at Dean as he tried to fix his tie in the mirror, "Bet she kicked your ass a coupla times."

Adam chuckled as his two elder brothers interacted. All Dean had done was glare at Sam through the mirror, before returning to his tie. It was clear that it wasn't a conversation he wanted to have.

"What's interesting is you guys never really look at each other at the same time," Sam pointed out, ignoring the glare as he grinned, "You look at her when she's not looking, she checks you out when you look away. It's just a...just an interesting observation in a...you know...observationally interesting way."

Dean stopped fiddling with his tie and turned to look at his brother, "You think we might have more pressing issues here?"

"Hey, if I'm hitting a nerve."

Dean shook his head and walked out of the motel room, grabbing his jacket on the way out. Sam laughed, glancing at Adam. Adam nodded his head with a laugh, "I think you hit a nerve."

The trip to the pier had been useful. While they were there, they'd seen two men who new Jimmy and one of them was open to talking about the big black truck, one that sounded like a truck from back in the 60s. It had been connected to deaths back then, and all the men just happened to be black.

"Story goes, they disappeared in a big, nasty, black truck," the men said, "Never found the guy who did it. Not sure they even really looked. See, there was a time this town wasn't too friendly to all its citizens."

"Thank you." Adam said with a nod, before walking away with his two brothers to the Impala. The truck kept coming up, and now they were surer that it was connected to the accident.

"You heard of the Flying Dutchman?" Dean asked, stopping at the Impala before opening the door. His brothers looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"The ghost ship?" Sam asked, "Infused with the Captain's evil spirit. Basically became part of him, right?"

"Yeah, what if we're dealing with the same thing?" Dean suggested. While he'd wanted to believe it was something supernatural from the start, he tried not to jump at clues. This one was too big to overlook, though, "Phantom truck, an extension of some bastard's ghost."

"Re-enacting crimes of the past?" Adam asked, looking between his two brothers, "You know, the victims have all been black men."

"They're all connected to Cassie's family." Dean had to point out. They'd all been linked to her dad in some way. Sam nodded his head, suggesting that Dean work on that angle, while he and Adam focused on other possibilities—not that they'd found any yet but there was more research to be done.

"Oh, you might also wanna mention that other thing." Sam pointed out, as Dean put the keys into the Impala's lock, "You know, your serious, unfinished business?"

Dean just shook his head, trying to ignore the whole thing, but Sam wasn't going to let him. The middle Winchester really wanted to get to the bottom of this, and it was time for Dean to open up, "All right, so maybe we were a little bit more involved than I said."

"Oh, okay." Adam rolled his eyes sarcastically, as Sam waited for more.

"Okay, a lot more. Maybe," Dean sighed, going into something that he'd vowed to keep to himself after the way the whole relationship had blown up in front of his face, "And I told her our secret about what me and dad did, and I shouldn't have."

"Look, everybody's gotta open up to someone, sometime."

"Yeah, I don't. It was stupid to get that close," Dean shook his head, "Look how it ended."

The two younger Winchesters stopped, watching Dean with matching grins. He started to feel self-conscious under their watchful eyes, waiting for them to do something. Suddenly, Adam let out a laugh, "You loved her."

"Oh, God." Dean turned back to the Impala and finally unlocked the door.

"You were in love with her," Sam shook his head, never knowing before that his brother had actually had a relationship, "But you dumped her." As Dean remained silent, staring at the ground, Sam shook his head. That wasn't it at all, and Sam suddenly felt guilty for getting more out of his brother about this relationship, "Oh, wow! She dumped you."

Adam raised his eyebrows at the comment, sure that that wasn't the case. But the look on Dean's face as he opened the Impala door told him differently, "Just get in the car."

Sam and Adam looked at each other, small smiles on their faces. It was clear that Dean was capable of relationships and love. Cassie was the proof of that. It had taken them just over a year of being together again to find that out, and now they wanted to know more about his past relationships.

* * *

While Piper and Phoebe worked on the potion and spell to get Cupid back with his fellow cupids, Prue had gone out with Andy. She still wasn't back the next morning, when the two witches were back on the potion now that they'd let it settle overnight as it needed.

"You know, I was wondering," Phoebe turned to Cupid, who just watched the two witches work, "Did you do something specific to tick Drazi off? Or did he also find your honesty to be a complete and total pain in the ass?"

Cupid sniggered at Phoebe's remark, knowing that she was fed up of hearing about her closed heart, "Drazi fell in love with a moral woman. I redirected her love towards a mortal man, away from Drazi. She's married now, very happy. Drazi blames me for denying him love," as Phoebe started stirring the potion quickly to get rid of the pent-up anger, Cupid stood and touched her hand gently, "100 slow strokes there."

"So, demons can love?" Piper asked, tilting her head to one side. She remembered the dark lighter falling in love, but never believed that demons could as well.

"Frightening stuff, huh?" Cupid nodded his head, "Love of evil, love of fear, sometimes love they are the very things they hate. In this case, a human being," Cupid turned back to Phoebe with his next comment, "You know, if demons can open their hearts, there's hope in you, too, Phoebe."

Phoebe shook her head, making a comment about her heart not being closed, but Cupid had to disagree. And he was the one that was likely to know this. As she tried to defend herself for being picky, Cupid pulled up the fact that she was terrified.

"Of what?" Phoebe stopped stirring and looked at Cupid.

"You tell me."

"I don't want to play this game."

"You know, you're worse than Dean," Cupid shook his head, "His heart was closed, too, but I guess that trip to the future helped him. He knew what he feared and looked at it head-on. Now you have to do the same."

Phoebe shook her head, moving onto the point of the potion again, "So, how does this work?"

Cupid and Piper couldn't help but share a look, realizing that they weren't going to get her to open up yet. Cupid decided to answer her question, explaining how it was a potion made with aphrodisiacs, including lavender, oysters and chocolate. All the ingredients were for desire...the desire to go home.

"Home is where the heart is." Phoebe rolled her eyes at the comment.

"Are you afraid of loss?" Cupid asked her, as Piper took over the stirring of the potion. Phoebe decided to ignore the question at first, but then finally told him that not loving kept her safe from people leaving, "Your mother?" Cupid asked, and nodded when she said he was right, "And your father?"

Phoebe hesitated for a moment, before turning to Cupid and admitting something she didn't think she would just a few moments ago, "And you."

"Are you falling for me?"

"No, I am not falling for you!" Phoebe exclaimed, but Cupid just shook his head, sharing another look with Piper. It was Phoebe running away from love, "You are, Cupid. You're the one that's leaving me."

"Look, Phoebe, what I am is the potential for true love. That's all," Cupid explained to her, grabbing her hands to encourage her to look into his eyes, "Because once you've let love in, it'll never leave. Don't confuse the message with the messenger, Phoebe. It's what you've always done. Messengers make mistakes, get lost and run away and then they die. But the message, open your heart, it comes from life itself. Hear it. For my sake and yours."

What they hadn't realized was that Dan was keeping a close eye on them from their back garden. Seeing them working something on the stove with the man who had almost attacked Phoebe the night before made him wonder a few things, and now his mind was doing overtime.

* * *

Dean hesitated at first, but then questioned why he was so nervous. Cassie had called him. Sure, she hadn't called him that night, but she'd asked _him_ to come to Missouri. She'd wanted him when she started to believe that the supernatural world was real.

Seeing her again had been the hardest part. She still looked amazing, and all the feelings that Dean had for her came back full force. But then there was part of him that struggled, because Jo was back home and his feelings for her were growing. See, he was capable of love. He was capable of letting women in and settling with them, but it didn't happen often.

Now that he was back with Cassie, he reminded himself why it didn't happen often. Cassie had called him delusional when she told him the truth. Jo had found out he was a witch and instantly closed off from him. Not that he blamed Jo. Being a witch was something difficult to take in. Mind you, finding out the supernatural world was real was also a difficult thing to take in. He'd grown up believing and seeing it all, but what would he have been like had he learned all about it as an adult? And a realist as Cassie used to always remind him that she was.

Finally plucking up the courage, Dean climbed out of the Impala and knocked on the door to Cassie's mother's house. Hopefully, Cassie would be the one to answer and not Mrs. Robinson. He didn't want to explain to her why he was here again. She didn't seem to want him there in the first place.

"Dean!" Cassie said, as the door opened. She stepped back, surprise on her face, obviously not expecting him to be to turn up that night.

"Hey." Dean kept his hands in his pockets where he'd put them after knocking. It was safer than trying to figure out what to do with them. Cassie stepped to one side, ushering Dean into the house before closing the door behind her.

"So...you busy, or..." Why was he so damn nervous? This was ridiculous!

"The paper's doing a tribute to Jimmy. I was just," Cassie spoke as she made her way to the doorway to her father's study for when he needed to bring paperwork home, "going through his stuff...his awards. Trying to find the words."

"That's gotta be tough." Dean spoke lowly, leaning on the opposite door frame, watching his ex-girlfriend in the dull light. The only light came from the lamp on the desk on the other side of the study, but Dean didn't need light to know the expression on Cassie's face. It may have been a few years ago, but he still remembered her looks.

"For years this family owned the paper. The Dorians?" the way she spoke made it sound like she was asking if Dean had ever heard of them. He hadn't, but he decided if it was a question, it was a rhetorical one, "They had a whites-only policy," there was something in Dean that made him think back to the comment at the pier, how the town had changed a lot over the years, "After they sold it, Jimmy became the first black reporter. He didn't stop 'til he became editor. He taught me everything..." Cassie drifted off into her thoughts, but then pulled herself back before Dean had a chance to say anything, "Where are your brothers?"

"Not here." Dean said with a shrug, wondering if that would change the way they were talking.

"All right. So, uh," Cassie looked around and now placed her own hands in her pockets, "What brings you here?"

Part of him wondered whether he needed a reason to come over. Not that he didn't have a reason, but part of him just wanted to see his ex-girlfriend again. The things Sam had said about unfinished business had stuck in his head. There was a lot of unfinished business between them. He'd sensed it the minute Cassie laid eyes on him, but he hadn't the guts to really bring it up. Part of him wanted to deal with the case and get straight out of town.

The look Cassie was giving him in the dark reminded Dean that he hadn't given her an answer, "I'm trying to find the connection between the three victims. By the way, did you talk to your mom about what Todd said about not being a racist?"

"She didn't want to talk about it." Cassie replied, with a shake of her head. It led to a silence between them, a somewhat awkward one. Dean decided to break it, asking why she was asking about his brothers.

"Nothing. Not important."

"Could it be because without the here it's just you and me?" Dean asked, smirking her way, "Not you, me, Sam and Adam, which would be easier?"

Cassie took offense at that, making Dean release his hands from his pockets and throw them up in defense. They'd keep it strictly business if that was the way she was going to act. Turning away, he made it clear that he was going to walk out of the house, but heard her footsteps behind him on the wooden floor, "I forgot you do that."

"Do what?"

"Oh, whenever we get, what's the word...close?" Cassie scoffed at him, "Anywhere in the neighborhood of emotional vulnerability, you back off. Or make some joke. Or find any way to shut the door on me."

Dean turned around to face Cassie, glaring into her dark eyes as he barked out a laugh, "Oh, that's hilarious." Cassie turned away from him, making Dean walk around her so he could stand in front of him, "See, I'm not the one who took that big final door and slammed it behind me."

"Okay, wait a minute..."

"And I'm not the one who took the key and buried it." Dean cut her off, making it clear that she was the one who closed him out. She was the one who left him, when all he'd done was tell her the truth about everything. He didn't have to, but he could trust her. He loved her, damn it, "I was totally up front with you back then, and you nailed me for it."

"The guy I'm with, the guy I'm hoping might be in my future," Cassie argued back, fire in her eyes and voice, "Tells me he professionally pops ghosts."

"That's not the words I used."

"And that he has to leave, to go work with his father."

"I did!" Dean defended himself, because at the time it was the truth.

"All I could think was, 'if you want out, fine, but don't tell me this insane story.'" Cassie told him, and that really hit a nerve with Dean. He'd ran into a lot of people who thought he was insane for believing the things he did—for doing the things he did. Strangers he could cope with thinking that, he didn't really care. When it was someone he loved, that was a different matter.

"It was the truth, Cassie, and notice it didn't sound insane the minute you thought I could help you." Dean raised his voice, getting right into the woman's face. She didn't back away, though. Instead, she stepped into his personal space, shouting about how she thought he wanted to dump her, "Whoa! Now let's not forget who dumped who, okay?"

"I thought it was what you wanted!" Cassie retorted, emotions getting the better of her.

"Well, it wasn't!"

"I didn't mean to hurt you."

"Well, you did." He wouldn't admit it to many people, but this whole conversation needed honesty. He needed to open up to her, and show her just what he'd done to him.

"I'm sorry!"

"Yeah, me, too."

They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, before Dean pulled Cassie towards them. All the anger and frustration had turned to passion; passion that had never really disappeared from the last time they'd been together. As Cassie slipped Dean's brown leather jacket off his shoulders, he knew exactly where this was heading and pulled her up the stairs to her bedroom. They needed privacy for this.

* * *

While Dean and Cassie made up, the mayor was looking at the plans on a building site. Folding them up, he made his way back to his car. Before he managed to get into it, though, a black truck pulled up behind him, the engine revving. The mayor didn't hesitate, knowing exactly what that truck was. Dropping his car keys, he ran down the road. The truck was behind him, though, and was gaining on him. The mayor couldn't run any faster and before he knew it, the truck hit him hard.

The mayor didn't even feel anything after the initial hit. It had killed him on impact due to the speed. His body flew up into the air, before rolling down the embankment, finally to a stop. All that people would find would be a blood corpse with its eyes wide open.

* * *

That night in San Francisco, Prue and Andy were enjoying another quiet night in their apartment. They finally had everything in place for their wedding, and other plans just in case magic got in the way. After a year of being a witch, Prue was ready for innocents to appear at the last minute. She wasn't idealistic; she was a realist.

As they sat on the couch, snuggled in, they started talking about where they would live. The Manor was far too crowded, but could Prue really move onto the other side of San Francisco? It would make it very difficult if there was a demon attacking her sisters and cousins. And Andy knew that Prue would never want to live too far away.

"Maybe we could get a house close by," Andy offered, "With the two of us, it would definitely be possible financially."

"And leave Dean and Piper to deal with the Manor?" Prue asked, worried about how her sister and cousin would handle the financial responsibility of the house alone. Although, with four of them in the house rather than five it would be easier. They could also rent out one of the rooms if they really needed to.

"I know you worry about them, but you've got to leave them to fend for themselves," Andy smiled softly, "That place is far too small for me to move in there. And I'm not sure I'd really feel comfortable with all the magic, demons and whatnot."

Prue smiled, looking into her fiancé's brown eyes. He definitely had a point, and she owned it to him to compromise on this matter. Getting a house or even just an apartment close to the Manor would be acceptable, "Let me run it by the others first."

"Of course." Andy nodded.

What they hadn't realized was that Drazi had allowed the ring to lead him to Prue and Andy. He had remained in the shadows of the apartment to watch the couple, and then looked down as the ring glowed black. Smirking, he walked over to them and slipped in between the heart beats.

"Andy, Prue will never love you enough to give up her family. Her sisters and cousins will always come first, and you will end up left behind with another divorce on your hand," Drazi slipped the thoughts into Andy's subconscious, "And Prue...Andy may act like the gentleman, but he's definitely not. He's still sleeping with his ex-wife. You saw how friendly they are, and he kept his relationship with her a secret from you."

Drazi grinned, knowing that the thoughts were seeping through and one work on breaking up one of Cupid's longest and most successful relationships.

* * *

Something was definitely happening, because all Cupid could do was grab his chest in pain. Phoebe and Piper rushed over to him.

"What's the matter?"

"I can't believe it." Cupid gasped through sharp breaths. He knew exactly which relationship was being attacked, but couldn't believe that it was possible. Somehow, Drazi had survived the vanquishing potion. It was a good job the Charmed sisters hadn't sent him back to his home.

"Drazi?" Piper asked, looking up at Phoebe, "But we vanquished him."

All the two sisters could do was help Cupid to the couch, where he laid down grabbing his heart. It really was worse than having his heart physically ripped out. It was tearing him apart from the inside out, burning everything. It would end up killing him.

They waited, trying to call Prue to let her know that Drazi was still alive. But Prue refused or couldn't pick up her cell phone. Maybe she hadn't heard it while spending time with Andy. That was the hope until Prue stormed into the house, shouting obscenities about her fiancé, declaring that the wedding was most definitely off and Dean had the right idea not settling down with anyone.

"You know what? None of this would have happened," Prue turned her anger and hatred towards Cupid, "If you wouldn't just left us alone. Now get out. Get out of my house."

Cupid frowned, but stood up weakly. There was nothing he could do, not while Prue was trapped under Drazi's spell, in a world of hate and anger. Piper and Phoebe tried to get him to stop, pleading with Prue to listen to them and Cupid, but she wasn't having anything to do with it. She wanted him out.

"I'm not trapped," Prue informed them, "For the first time in my life I see things how they really are. Now whoever you are, whatever you're selling, just get out."

"Prue, you're under a spell," Piper tried to plead with her sister, but Prue turned her back on her. If Piper and Phoebe were with Cupid, they could go with him. She wasn't interested.

"We vanquished Drazi," Phoebe sighed as Prue stormed up the stairs of the Manor and slammed her bedroom door, "How is this happening?"

"The ring must have saved him." Cupid could only theorize. It would mean while he was in possession of the ring and promoting hate, he would be invincible. But there was another theory. If destroying love that Cupid had put together was killing him, making the opposite would happen if they patched up those relationships.

"You can't do that without your ring." Piper shook her head, but Cupid looked between the two witches. He had them, especially Phoebe.

"Phoebe, your heart is as big and true as anyone I've ever seen," Cupid explained, "You'll be my ring." Phoebe was flattered by the compliment, but she wasn't sure if she could do something like that. She didn't know the first thing about love. As Cupid kept pointing out, she ran from love, closed her heart off from it.

"You need to, Phoebe," Piper told her sister, pulling her out of the house to follow Cupid, "We've gotta go and do this."

* * *

While Prue sat alone in her bedroom, she thought about everything that had happened that night. The hatred seemed to have come from nowhere. While some of the things she thought had been actual thoughts in the past, she'd gotten past them. She and Andy had talked about them and she'd seen the truth. Why had they come back all of a sudden?

Not only that, but why had he suddenly started accusing her of always putting her family first? Sure, her family meant the world to her. They way they grew up, the way she was a mother to them, that made sense. But she would also have a place for Andy. There were times that he had come first, like when she tried to keep him safe from Yellow Eyes, even if it meant her and her whole family dying trying to vanquish him.

It had been strange, as the thought of Drazi infiltrated her thoughts. But the demon had been vanquished. They were back to normal lives until the next innocent came to them.

"Andy's scum." Prue decidedly said to herself.

* * *

The next morning found Dean and Cassie laying together in Cassie's bed. Dean laid on his back, an arm around Cassie, tucking her against his side. She couldn't help but draw patterns lazily on his bare chest.

"We should fight more often." Cassie told him, not looking up at his expression. Had she looked up, she would have seen Dean just looking up at the ceiling, while he ran fingers up and down her arm and back absentmindedly.

"Absolutely."

"Actually, we were always pretty good at fighting. This," she indicated at the position they were in, "We were always good at. It's all the other stuff...not so much."

"Hey, I tried," Dean got defensive again at the thought of her calling him delusional, "I told you who I really was. That was a big first for me."

"Why'd you tell me?" Cassie now asked, hooking her right arm under her head so she could now look at Dean in the eye. He glanced across at her, a small smile playing on his features.

"I don't know. I guess I couldn't lie to you."

"Dean," Cassie decided it was time to do some opening up of her own, "You told me that story...it scared the hell outta me. I thought you were nuts. Dangerous, even. Actually, maybe I was looking for a reason to walk away."

Dean could understand that. If she had believed him, she would have to deal with the things that he'd seen; some of the most horrible, unexplainable things. It was strange that he could deal with them, sometimes easily, but trying to work things out with Cassie was a completely different thing. When she called him delusional, he never tried to talk her round to help her understand. He just accepted that she wanted him gone, and left. Never spoke to her again, until she called him to come help her with her dad's death.

As they laid there, Dean thought about the last time he was laid in a bed like this. Not with Cassie in his arms, but Jo. He'd left her in San Francisco and hadn't thought twice about sleeping with Cassie again. What did that make him?

It wasn't like he and Jo were exclusive. Hell, they weren't even together at that moment in time, but Dean had tried with her. He wanted to try, even if it was just to have another friend. Instead, he'd slept with an ex-girlfriend in another state, when he should have been working on a case.

"You know, I'm still really involved," Dean told her, "With the supernatural, with everything. This last year, my life really changed. Things happened that I can't even begin to explain. It took me a while to actually deal with it all, and even now I start to doubt decisions I've made."

"Look, no more excuses, okay? From you or me." Cassie said, and kissed Dean just as his cell phone rang. With a sigh, Dean checked his phone to see Adam was calling. As he answered, he was hit with instant news in the case...not the news he expected.

Dean sat up startled, letting Cassie lay on her back while he continued to listen to his brother, "You're kidding."

Dean didn't waste any time pulling his clothes back on, sharing a goodbye kiss with Cassie. His work needed him right now. His brothers needed him.

* * *

It had taken all night for Phoebe, Piper and Cupid to find the couple they needed. It hadn't helped that Cupid didn't have his ring, and Drazi wasn't around them to show him where they were. They finally ended up in the building Cindy and Max worked in, and waiting for Cindy to come into work. Luckily, she did, and she was alone.

Rushing over to her, with the simple plan of just talking to her. Cupid gave Phoebe some tips before they approached, "She's just the same as you. Her fears are your fears. Just pretend you're talking to yourself."

With that, Cupid stopped Cindy, instantly getting a look of vague recollection. It was like she'd seen him before, and Cupid knew that it was her subconscious and her heart calling out to him.

"We know you and we know Max. How is he?" Piper started the conversation, as Cindy tried hard to place Cupid.

"I don't know. Look, I'm really sorry," Cindy shook her head, walking away from the three strangers, "About what happened. I'm not even sure how it happened, but I'm sorry."

Phoebe used this chance to jump in, thinking about all the things that she'd like to say herself. While Max's physical pain would go away, Cindy's pain wouldn't, "I mean, it hasn't yet, has it? The pain of love loss deepens if you don't deal with it. Look, I know, I know what it's like, believe me. I closed myself off to love too, because I was afraid. But you know what? Fear and love cannot live in the same house."

"She's getting to her." Cupid whispered to Piper, as he felt some of the pain in his chest dulling.

Phoebe didn't bother listening to Cupid and continued with her speech, "It's because the people that we love eventually leave us. So we've given up on love."

"You mean, love's given up on me." Cindy rolled her eyes, but Phoebe disagreed with that. The fear of loss had left her paralyzed, but it was something that could be changed. It was possible to risk love again.

"I mean, hey, they don't call it lover's leap for nothing, right?"

"What?" Cindy looked at the young woman shocked. Cupid couldn't help but whisper to Phoebe that lover's leap was a reference to suicide.

"Oh!" Phoebe panicked, but got a new speech in her head, "Let me rephrase that. Got to Max. Push through whatever hate or fear or doubt you think might exist between both of you. Just tell him what's in your heart."

"I love him." Cindy admitted, making the other three people smile. It was time for Cindy to get to the hospital, and time for Phoebe and Piper to help Prue and Andy reconnect. Thank goodness Dean and Sam were out of town so they couldn't get into arguments with Jo and Sarah (or more arguments in the case of Dean and Jo).

Reconnecting was just what Cindy and Max did at the hospital, and Drazi—somewhere on the other side of San Francisco—felt it happen. Doubling over in pain, he knew exactly who was responsible for this and he was going to make sure it didn't happen.

* * *

When Dean had reached his brothers, he learned all about the mayor, who had bought the property that he was looking at developing the night that he was killed. Well, that was after both his brothers noted how he didn't get back to the motel room and was still in yesterday's clothes. The problem for the Winchesters was that the mayor was white and the killing didn't happen on the road. Nothing fit the former motive.

That was why Dean and Adam were now at the newspaper office, while Sam looked through the court records. It was going to be a long afternoon, as they now had no idea about the link. All Dean had in his head was that it was linked to the killings that had happened in the '60s, and he couldn't help but feel that Cassie's mom would have been the perfect person to explain a few things.

While the brothers searched on separate computers, Cassie brought mugs of tea over for them. Dean smiled gratefully, deciding not to touch a drop of the alien liquid after yesterday's taste.

"You know, there's not much about those killings," Adam sighed, "How did they get away with not reporting this stuff."

"Minimal police work in the 1960s. Back then, equal justice under the law wasn't too literal around here." Cassie explained, as Dean's cell phone rang. Sam was just leaving the courthouse, after finding out that the Dorian family had owned the property for 150 years before that.

"Dorian?" Dean asked, looking directly at Cassie. The name had been mentioned the night before, and he couldn't help but feel like there was something more to this name, "Didn't you say the Dorian family used to own this paper?"

"Along with everything else around here. Real pillars of the town."

Adam quickly started searching for something, while Dean continued to talk to Sam. Instantly, he found a report about Cyrus Dorian disappearing in the late '60s. While the police investigated, the case was never solved. It coincided with all the murders, which just happened to stop after Dorian's disappearance.

As Sam heard it all on the other side of the phone, it was all starting to make sense. The first thing the mayor did after getting the property was to pull it down. It had made the front page the month before, since it was one of the oldest houses left at the time.

"It happened on the 3rd of last month." Sam said, and Dean chuckled to himself. It just so happened that the killings started the night after.

* * *

While the brothers continued with their case, Phoebe, Piper and Cupid rushed back over to the Manor. They reached it just before Andy came over, anger and hatred in his eyes.

"This better be good, Prue." Andy shouted, making Prue walk into the hallway from the living room. She looked at her ex-fiancé, shrugging her shoulders, not a clue what he was talking about, "Oh, don't play the innocent act with me right now. Just cut to the chase. Why did you text me?"

"I didn't." Prue folded her arms, as Andy pulled out his phone and showed a text that had clearly come from Prue's phone. It told him that she wanted him over there right away. As they started arguing about how pathetic Andy was somehow setting it up to look like Prue had text him, Piper, Phoebe and Cupid walked in from another room.

"This hatred has gotta stop," Piper pleaded, "I asked Andy to come over."

"What is he still doing here?" Prue pointed at Cupid, ignoring the fact that her sister had planned this to happen. Cupid only wanted to help, but Prue wasn't ready to listen. Piper shook her head, while Phoebe took control.

"Right, you two on the couch, now."

"Phoebe, just mind your own business." Andy told the youngest Halliwell, turning his attention back to Prue. However, the fire in Prue's blue eyes made it very clear that he had no right to talk to Phoebe like that. Finally, the two lovers went over to the couch, giving Phoebe a chance to get through to them.

Outside, Dan had watched Andy walk into the Manor, knowing something suspicious was going on. Just moments later, Drazi was walking up the street, clutching his chest in pain, mumbling something about a cupid paying for everything.

* * *

Meanwhile, Cassie had made it home to help take care of her mother again. Mrs. Robinson had gone for a nap, leaving Cassie to go back through her father's study. It was time to start clearing things out and deciding what to do with the car dealership. It may have been too soon for some, but Cassie just needed to get on with things.

While she did that, silence filled the rest of the house. That was the way she preferred it. No music or sound while she worked. Her thoughts could get through much easier that way.

It was because of the silence that she could hear the revving of an engine outside. Frowning, Cassie looked out of the window, seeing the large black truck parked outside. It inched towards her and then stopped, making Cassie back up to the desk. Rushing to the door, the sound of the revving seemed to get louder. It was as if the truck was on all sides of the house, and ready to attack.

Picking up the phone, Cassie did the only thing she could think. Fear running through her, she screamed for Dean to come to her home.

* * *

"You don't look okay," Andy stated the obvious, looking over to Cupid, "Are you alright?"

"I'm having a rough day." Cupid explained, with Phoebe jumping in about how it was all about to change.

"Look, you're bother under some kind of spell," she was thankful that Andy knew all about demons and magic, "Some ugly things have been said between you two, but you can get past them."

"Assuming we want to." Prue shrugged her shoulders, but Phoebe knew that they would want to. In fact, everyone in the room knew that they would want to.

"Remember how you felt the first time you saw Andy?" Cupid asked, "That first time in high school."

Prue thought back to her time in high school and sneered at Andy, "I hated him. He was a jerk."

"Opposites attract," Cupid smirked, "But after a while, he started to make you smile, didn't he? He made you laugh. When you reconnected last year, you only felt the good things. Look at him again, and remember all that."

They two looked at each other, but it wasn't enough right now. Phoebe decided to jump in and help, "When I watch you two, I see light and warmth. There's hope. You don't need someone whispering in your ear telling you not to trust each other. Prue loves you so much and Andy wants to be with you, Prue."

"I'm not saying you have to always put me first, but sometimes..."

"And I do put you first sometimes," Prue nodded, "But I will make more of an effort to do it in the future."

"It's working." Cupid smiled, as Piper questioned where the demon was. It wouldn't be long for him to get here, and they needed to act fast. Since they didn't have to bat around the subject with Andy, Piper jumped straight into an explanation.

"Look, Drazi is still alive, Prue, and if Cupid's right, he's on his way here. Whatever bad feelings you two have for each other, Drazi did it. He's twisted your relationships with hate."

"Drazi? Cupid?" Andy looked between the two younger sisters and the man in front of him.

"We'll explain that later," Piper brushed him off, "We need to act fast. You need to let each other back into your hearts."

As they talked, Drazi swung the door open, making it crash with the frame next to it. Everyone jumped up, ready for Drazi to walk in and attack.

"Hello, lover boy," Drazi reached into Cupid's chest, grabbing his heart, "I shoulda finished you off the first time."

Piper quickly flicked her wrists, making Drazi and Cupid freeze on the spot. Now what were they supposed to do? The plan before hadn't worked, but Phoebe quickly grabbed the ring from Drazi's finger and placed it on Cupid's instead.

"How do we know this will work?" Piper asked, constantly looking for the faults in the plan. Phoebe quickly grabbed a bowl from the dining table that had been placed there earlier, muttering something about love being a risk, and then threw the potion over the Demon of Hate. The two magical beings unfroze, and Drazi instantly started screaming in pain. He turned back into a puddle of black goo, before disappearing completely.

"Is he gone this time?" Prue asked, looking at Cupid for the answer. Cupid nodded with a smile. He'd never felt better, so the demon had to be gone. Smiling, Cupid turned to face Phoebe, thanking her for all her help. With a last kiss, he disappeared in a red glow.

"Now that boy can kiss."

* * *

Meanwhile, the Winchesters had raced over to Cassie to help her. She'd been terrified on the phone, and now Dean didn't want to leave her side. Sam made her a cup of tea, while Adam watched his brother and Cassie from the chair opposite the couch, keeping his eye on Mrs. Robinson next to him in the other chair.

"Think you could throw a coupla shots in that?" Cassie asked, her hands shaking as she took the cup of tea. Dean chuckled at her, rubbing her upper back in a comforting way. He wanted her to know that he was right here for her. Adam and Sam continued to watch, as Sam took a seat on the couch on the other side of Cassie.

"So, you didn't see who was driving the truck?" Adam now asked, as Cassie placed the tea on the coffee table.

"It seemed to be no one but everything was moving so fast," Cassie shook her head, "And then it was just gone. Why didn't it kill us?"

It was clear that the truck was scaring people first. That was what it had done with others, like Cassie's father. Whoever controlled it wanted people to know that it was coming for them next. Mrs. Robinson shivered on the couch, as Sam brought up the fact that Cassie's dad had seen the truck before he died, too."

"Martin was under a lot of stress. You can't be sure about what he was seeing." Mrs. Robinson brushed off the question, but it was clear that she was hiding something. Rather than keeping it light for her, Adam decided to use a bit of fear to aid their investigation.

"Well, after tonight, I think we can be reasonably sure he was seeing a truck," he shrugged his shoulders, not catching his brothers' eyes, "What happened tonight, you and Cassie are marked. Your daughter could die. So if you know something, now would be a really good time to tell us about it."

"Adam!" Sam warned his brother, glancing over to Dean for backup.

"No, he's right," Dean nodded, looking over at Cassie's mom, "Is there anything you want to share?"

Mrs. Robinson was taken aback by the two men, but she nodded her head. Martin had seen a truck before he died, and it had been a big black one. At least that's what he thought, and he also thought he knew who it belonged to. "Cryus," she sniffled, "A man named Cyrus."

"Cyrus Dorian?" Adam frowned, now looking at his two brothers trying to make head or tail of this.

"Cyrus Dorian died more than 50 years ago." The woman shook her head, which made the other four in the room frown. The paper's said he went missing, not that he was dead. What did she know that others didn't? It was time for the truth to come out, and Cassie couldn't even being to think that her parents had done all this.

"We were all very young. I dated Cyrus a while," Mrs. Robinson explained, knowing that she was going to have to apologize to her daughter for this in the hours to come, "I was also seeing Martin...in secret of course. Inter-racial couples didn't go over too well back then. When I broke it off with Cyrus and he found out about Martin, I don't know. He...changed. His hatred...it was frightening."

"The murders." Sam realized where this was going, and Mrs. Robinson continued with the story how people of color started disappearing but nothing happened. The rumor was that it happened in a black truck.

"Martin and I, we were gonna be, uh, married in that little church near here," the woman continued, crying now as she thought about the ending to her story, "We didn't want the attention, so at the last minute we decided to elope," completely breaking down, Mrs. Robinson struggled with the final part, "The day we set for the wedding was the day someone set fire to the church. There was a children's choir practice in there. They all died."

Cassie put her hand to her mouth at the thought of innocent children dying, trapped in the church building on fire. Dean wrapped his arm around her tighter, feeling her shaking. Adam's face paled, as he swallowed hard.

Sam kept his voice soft, as he asked his last question, "Did the attacks stop after that?"

"No! There was," Mrs. Robinson sobbed, "One more. One night that truck came for Martin. Cyrus beat him something terrible. But Martin...somehow Martin got loose and he started hitting Cyrus. He just kept hitting him and hitting him."

"Didn't you call the cops?" Dean asked, but knew that it was a stupid question. What was the point in calling the cops back then? Even as self-defense, Martin would have been the one arrested and Cyrus let off because of race. This was a different time.

"No, he called his friends, Clayton Soames and Jimmy Anderson," refusing to explain once more about the differences back then, "They put Cyrus' body into his truck and rolled it into the swamp at the end of his land. All three kept that a secret all these years."

"Mayor Todd," Adam shook his head, realizing that while the three men were dead, there was another victim, "He said that you of all people would know he's not a racist and he'd dead. Why would...why would that happen."

"Oh, he was a good man," a sad smiled filled Mrs. Robinson's face, "He was a young deputy then, investigating Cyrus' disappearance. He figured out what Martin had done and he...he did nothing. He knew what Cyrus had done, too."

"Why didn't you tell me any of this?" Cassie asked, shocked that something like this would be kept secret for so many years; for over half a century.

"I thought I was protecting them," she explained, crying about the whole thing, "And now there's no one left to protect."

"Yes, there is." Dean argued, glancing over at Cassie. And he was going to be the one to save her.

The three brothers made their way out of the house, waiting for Cassie to help settle her mother so they could go in search for the killed truck. The cold Missouri air had all three of them shivering. Dean walked up and down, while Sam and Adam leaned against the Impala.

"You know, my life was so simple once," Sam sighed, reminiscing. He didn't do it often, but now and then he found himself thinking about it, "Just school, exams, papers on polycentric cultural norms."

"Guess Phoebe saved you from a boring existence when she read that spell." Dean smirked at his brother, making Adam chuckle.

"Occasionally I miss boring." Sam admitted.

"So, this killer truck." Adam decided to bring up something he'd been confused about, but Sam just laughed at that remark.

"I miss conversations that didn't start with 'this killer truck.'" The two other brothers laughed along with him, as Adam continued with his thought process.

"Well, this Cyrus guy. Evil on a level that infected even his truck?" he looked more at Dean, as he was likely to know more about this than Sam, "When he died, I guess the swamp became his tomb and his spirit was dormant for 50 years."

"Guess so." Dean nodded his head.

"Well, what woke it up?" Adam asked, "Why now?"

Dean thought about it for a moment, and then pointed out that his house had been destroyed. Remodelling and demolitions can awaken spirits and make them restless. Adam wasn't that certain with the answer, so Dean continued to give examples, "There was a theater in Illinois. Had some remodelling work and an angry spirit of a ballet dancer started attacking people. So, this one, Harold Todd tore down the family house. He just happened to be the guy who'd kept the murder quiet."

"And now his spirit wants blood?" Sam asked, making Dean nod. Of course, who could know what ghosts were thinking?

They went silent for a moment, until Adam realized something else, "Doesn't this mean we need to dig up his body? From the swamp?"

"Wondered how long it'd take ya to figure that out." Sam chuckled, patting his younger brother on the back, before turning his attention to the sound of crunching gravel. Dean turned around to see Cassie walking over to them. Her mother was now asleep, so it was time to deal with the spirit.

Dean wrapped his arms around Cassie's waist, feeling the eyes of his brothers on him. Right now, though, he didn't care, "You need to stay put and look after her...and we'll be back. Don't leave the house."

"Don't go getting all authoritative on me. I hate it." Cassie said with a smile, making Sam and Adam chuckle. Dean knew what he had to say, but looked behind him first. He really didn't want his brothers to hear him say this.

"Don't leave the house, please?" He mumbled. As she nodded slowly, Dean leaned in and kissed her gently. Sam and Adam looked away to give them some privacy, but then Sam cleared his throat. Dean held up a finger behind him, still kissing Cassie, making it clear he would take another minute.

As they broke from the kiss, Dean smiled and then walked to the driver's side of his baby, "We going or what?"

* * *

It didn't take too long for the brothers to get to the swamp and tow the black truck out of it. Of course, the conversation of Cassie and what Dean was going to do with Jo came up, while they did it all.

"You're still in love with her." Sam pointed out.

"Can we focus, please?" Dean asked, knowing that there were feelings still in there for him, and he did feel guilty. He was still thinking about making things work with Jo. Of course, she'd decided to close the door on him after finding out about the witch secret. Dean hadn't heard from her in two weeks, so why should he feel guilty for moving on?

Deciding to get all business like, Dean handed Adam a few items from the trunk of his own car.

"What am I getting?" Adam asked, looking at them.

"Gas. Flashlight..." Dean simply stated, before closing the trunk of the Impala. It was time to salt and burn the body. As soon as they opened the door, a decayed body fell out, landing into Adam's arms. He groaned with a shudder, but kept hold of the body while Dean and Sam laughed at their little brother.

The three Winchesters quickly got to work salting and burning the body, deciding that it was a job all done. The only problem was that it wasn't quite over. Suddenly, large headlights turned on and an engine revving could be heard from behind them.

"How did that have no effect?" Sam asked, but Dean point out that it was now just very pissed. Dean did the only thing he could think of doing right now. Unhooking the Impala from the truck from the swamp, Dean jumped into the driver's seat of the Impala.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked.

"Goin' for a little ride." Dean replied. Sam and Adam looked at each other, and all Adam could do was get in the passenger seat with his brother, while Sam thought of something else that would get rid of the truck.

Dean didn't question his little brother, there wasn't time. He just put his foot down and sped off down the road. The black ghost truck followed him, roaring to life with the headlights blinding Dean through the rear-view mirror. The two brothers kept an eye on how close the truck was getting, before Dean ordered Adam to call Sam.

"You gotta give me a minute." Sam said on the other side of the phone.

"We don't have a minute." Adam shouted back, but Sam just hung up.

Back at the Dorian property, Sam made a quick call to Cassie, thankful that he'd decided to get her number from Dean's phone. He needed to know exactly where something specific was. Once he had the information, he was able to call Adam back to give him directions. What he hadn't realized was that the truck was slowly gaining on the Impala, and Dean's knuckles were white on the steering wheel.

"Where are you?" Sam asked.

"In the middle of nowhere with a killer truck on our ass," Adam shouted.

"It's like it knows I put the torch to Cyrus." Sam could hear Dean on the other side of the phone. There wasn't time to laugh, Sam really needed to know exactly where they were right now.

Adam and Dean looked out for signs, thankful that they finally saw you, "Decatur road, about two miles off the highway." Dean shouted across the phone, making Adam put the phone on speaker.

"Heading east?" Sam asked, to make sure. Before Dean could retort, the black truck hit the back of the Impala.

"You son of a bitch!" Dean shouted at the truck, just as Sam told him to turn right. Dean took a quick right, the truck following after him. Anyone outside would have heard both the engines screaming at the pace they were going.

"You make the turn?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, Sammy," Adam shouted, "Where next?"

"There's a road up ahead, see it?"

Dean shook his head. There was nothing ahead but it was too dark to really see. Suddenly, he spotted something that looked like a road, telling his brother about it. Straight after another order, Dean turned left onto a smaller road. He'd had to slam the brakes on though, letting the ghost truck careen past him, to make the turn.

"Go seven tenths of a mile, and then stop." Sam told his two brothers.

"Stop?" Adam wanted to clarify, but Sam didn't say anything about repeating the seven tenths part. Dean looked down at his speedometer to see how much further he needed to go. Once he'd gone the distance, he slammed the breaks on and turned the car around, moving forward slightly to make sure he was on the seven tenth mark. Sam was very clear about that part.

Looking around, Adam noticed that they were between two stone posts that had crumbled to almost nothing. It was clearly the remains of a wall. He didn't have time to think too much about it as the ghost truck appeared in front of them, revving its engine loudly.

"Adam, Dean, you still there?"

"We're here." Adam breathed, keeping his eyes on the truck.

"What's happening?"

"It's just staring at us," Dean admitted, "What do we do?"

They were already doing it. Suddenly, the truck careered forward, barrelling to the Impala. Dean and Adam just watched with wide eyes as the truck decided it wasn't going to stop. Grabbing the steering wheel tight, Dean closed his eyes and braced for impact. Adam had grabbed the dashboard, ready for the hit that was going to happen.

But the hit didn't happen. The revving just disappeared, and there was silence around them. Both brothers looked around, at the empty road ahead of them. The only engine that could now be heard was the Impala's purr. Dean looked behind him, but there was nothing there, either.

"You two still there?" Sam asked. Adam was looking around, asking where it had gone, "You're where the church was."

"Church?"

"The one Cyrus burned down," Sam explained, "It's still hallowed ground, church or no church. Evil spirits cross over hallowed ground, sometimes they're destroyed. At least, that's what I've read. I thought maybe that would get rid of it."

Dean looked at Adam, eyes wide, "Maybe? Maybe! What if you were wrong?"

"Huh, honestly that thought hadn't occurred to me." Sam admitted, making Adam hang up. Dean looked over to his youngest brother, shaking his head as he mimicked the last line that Sam had said.

"I'm gonna kill him."

* * *

Things with Cassie hadn't ended with a fairytale for Dean. She'd made a point about being a realist, and it was clear that she wasn't expecting him to turn up on her doorstep any time soon. Part of him wondered whether she was right. There wasn't a future for them.

After a last kiss, Dean, Sam and Adam got back on the road to return to San Francisco. They needed to find out what their cousins had been up to while they were on their road trip.

Once they got home, they found out all about the cupid—who knew cupids were real—and the almost end to Prue and Andy's relationship. Sam and Adam decided to keep Dean's relationship with Cassie to themselves, despite Phoebe wanting details about this _old friend_.

That night, Adam had returned to the dorm room, while Phoebe, Prue and Sam had a triple date with their other halves. With Piper at the club, it left Dean home alone, giving him the chance to contemplate calling Cassie. Maybe they could make things work.

The sound of a knock at the door interrupted Dean's thoughts. Putting the cell phone down that he was looking at, he got up and answered the door. A blast of cold air instantly hit him, but it was soon forgotten about when he saw Jo on the other side.

"Hey, Dean, I was hoping you were in," she said, her voice softer than it was two weeks ago. Not saying anything, Dean stepped to one side and let her into the warm house, closing the door behind her, "Thanks. It's best we sit down for this."

"You want to tell me that you want nothing to do with me now?" Dean asked, motioning for her to walk into the living room. They sat down together as Jo shook her head, "Really? I wouldn't blame you."

"Well, I'm not sure I have a choice," Jo sighed, rubbing her eyes. It was just now that Dean realized she looked tired and upset. Frowning, Dean took her hand to encourage her to trust him, but she flinched away from him, wrapping her arms around her stomach, "I...erm..." Jo laughed at herself before continuing, "I don't know why I'm telling you this. You'll want nothing to do with it but you need to know. Especially considering..."

"What is it, Jo?"

"I'm pregnant." Jo whispered, and Dean wasn't really sure if he'd really heard her correctly. Leaning forward, he wanted her to repeat it, but instead she looked up with tears in her eyes, "It's yours and...well, I don't know what to do. I just...with the whole witch thing and powers...I wanted...I needed—you know."

Dean just swallowed hard before nodding his head, "You're sure?"

"It's yours."

"No, I don't doubt you on that one," Dean shook his head, a small smile on his face that that was her first thought, "You're sure you're pregnant?"

"About six weeks," Jo nodded her head, thankful that he didn't doubt her about the other fact. She hadn't been with anyone in months, and then she slept with Dean on that one hunt. They'd used protection, but obviously it had failed, "Doctor confirmed the pregnancy today. I...I know you'll not want..."

"Jo, I'm not going anywhere," Dean would never drop his responsibility, not one like this, "It doesn't mean I'm super excited at the idea or I know what I'm doing, but I'm here. And I will want to be a part of this. That's if you want to keep..."

"No abortions." Jo cut him off, shaking her head.

Dean just nodded once and then frowned, "Have you told Ellen yet?"

"My mom? You think I want to talk to her right now?" Jo fired at him, "You lying to me for a year is one thing. She's lied to me for years. She could have told me your family secret, why we'd moved to San Francisco after my dad's death, but she didn't. I understand why you hid it. You were afraid. But now...our child. It's gonna have powers, right?"

Dean nodded his head, with a sorrowful look on his face. That wasn't something he wanted her to have to deal with, not when she hadn't quite accepted him as a witch yet. This was all so messed up, but really he'd been waiting for something like this to happen. His thoughts went to the future, to the child he saw there. He never did find out what his daughter's powers were there, but he'd find out about them soon.

"I'll get you a drink," Dean smiled, "I guess we have a lot to talk about."

* * *

While Dean and Jo talked about their new future and the rest of the family enjoyed their nights, Dan had work to do. He had seen the destruction of the man inside the Halliwell-Winchester Manor and was now more certain than every that they were the witches that he'd come here to seek out. He'd heard about too many unsolved crimes in the area over the last year—much more than any year before. To find out that Andy was suspected of a cover up and murder to suddenly be let off because a hunter named John Winchester had turned himself in (and then quickly died) really set off alarms for Dan and his family.

Walking into the dining area, he smiled at his niece as she cleaned the rifle from their time out shooting. Dan had agreed to bring Jenny with him to San Francisco, after his sister had asked him to train her to be a hunter. They needed to handle a case in Saudi Arabia, and hadn't really wanted to take a novice hunter with them.

The problem was that with her, Dan couldn't really take on the witches next door. There was six of them, and he'd read about six powerful witches. If they were the witches he thought they were, he was going to need back up.

Picking up his cell phone, he made a quick call. On the third ring, someone answered and Dan smiled, "San Francisco. Get here as soon as you can."

 **Guest cast list:**

Michael Reilly Burke as Cupid

Clayton Rohner as Drazi

Tiffany Salerno as Cindy

Brody Hutlzer as Max

Megalyn Echikunwoke as Cassie

Kathleen Noon as Mrs. Robinson

Gary Hetherington as Mayor Todd

Alvin Sanders as Jimmy

Greg Vaughn as Dan

* * *

 **Another episode finished :) I really hope you enjoyed it and would love for you to R &R. **

**The next episode is a take on Awakened, with a familiar face turning up...just who did Dan call for help and what does it mean for the Charmed Ones? It'll be up on Friday.**


	11. Episode 11: The Hunter Becomes

**As I promised, the episode before the mid-season break. I'm not sure how long the gap will be until the next episode unfortunately. Various things going on have meant that I just don't have the time to write anymore. I've got episode 12 done and that's it so far. I would like to get to around episode 17/18 before I start posting again, just in case things need changing.**

 **Anyway, right now you have a new episode and I'd love it if you wanted to re-read some of the episodes. After all, we'd rewatch episodes on the TV, wouldn't we? This is a take on Awakened, with a couple of Supernatural things thrown in.**

Episode 11: Sometimes the Hunter Becomes the Hunted

Piper turned away from the spiky yellow fruit that she was chopping to cough. It was only once, but it burned her throat and she couldn't help but wonder if she was coming down with something. So close to Christmas, she wouldn't be surprised. The cold December air was closing in and there were even some reports saying that San Francisco could even be hit with snow. Piper wasn't sure what to make of that. It wasn't common that it snowed, but it wasn't impossible either. Just last year they had a major snow storm that had meant Dean and Adam had put off a hunt. Luckily, another hunter closer to it was able to get there.

Taking a sip of water, Piper smiled to see Phoebe, Adam and Sam walking down the stairs of the club.

"Oh, I am so glad to see you!" Piper exclaimed, realizing just how much she still had to do and just how little time there was to do it all.

"Is that because Adam and I can work tonight," Phoebe smirked, "Or is it because I am now Phoebe Halliwell, college student."

"Okay, neat, thin slices, please." Piper said, not quite catching the last part. She stopped in her tracks, when she realized that Phoebe had said something she'd considered doing for a few weeks now, "Wait, you enrolled?" when Phoebe nodded, Piper grinned widely, "Phoebe, this is huge."

"Hugest thing I've done since I came back home." Phoebe smiled.

"Well, aside from vanquishing demons, and," Sam nudged his cousin with a proud look. He'd already found out about her enrolling, but had looked forward to seeing Piper's look, "Saving the world from evil, of course."

"Okay, so I signed up for two general courses." Phoebe said, pulling a piece of paper out of her bag and handing it to Piper. This wasn't something her two cousins had seen yet, so they looked over the bar to join Piper in assessing all the courses Phoebe had signed up for.

"And seven electives," Adam frowned, looking up at her, "Seven, Phoebe?"

"So I'm a little confused and," Phoebe admitted, not daring to look at the looks on their faces, "I could use some advice. What do you think I should take?"

Piper started coughing again, making the three witches glance at her. Phoebe couldn't help but get concerned at the chesty sound to the cough, but Piper insisted that she was okay.

"I bet Prue made you have soup at lunch today after she heard that little cough." Sam smirked at his cousin, before sitting down on one of the bar stools.

"I had to cancel, actually." Piper explained about the paper work that had taken over her life. It was a regular thing right now, and she really needed some extra help. The problem was finding someone who would be able to help. It didn't help that the Bay Mirror wanted to do a spot on the club, and the interview meant that Piper also had to cancel her massage that day.

"Piper, you have got to take care of yourself," Phoebe's voice was full of concern, as she spoke to her sister, "You've been feeling funky since yesterday."

Of course, Piper just couldn't slow down. There was so much to do, especially now that the club was doing so well. As they spoke, Piper handed Phoebe and Adam knives so they could cut up the spiky yellow fruit that Sam was now looking at in confusion.

"Isn't this Kewano?"

"Ke what?" Adam looked at his brother, before seeing Piper nod her head.

"It's from South America, you need lots of documentation to get it into this country."

Piper groaned. Of course, the lawyer side of her cousin just had to come through right now, "The bartender has a connection at the docks. We got them in yesterday and they're so great for Mai Tai's."

"Wait, you smuggled it in?" Sam now raised his eyebrows, wishing that he hadn't asked about it. Maybe ignorance would have been enough to start with but they'd soon find out that he knew all about the fruit.

"Oh, it's fruit, Sam," Phoebe brushed her cousin off, trying a bit of the fruit, "Not drugs. And wow, that is delicious."

Piper's coughing stopped them from discussing the fruit, and made them all go back to Piper's failing health. It was time she started taking care of herself, even if she didn't really want to slow down.

* * *

While the four cousins discussed smuggled fruit and Piper's health, a woman found herself racing through Golden Gate Park. Every now and then, she looked behind her for her attacker. She had been sure he was following her, but there wasn't any sign of him now. As she failed to look where she was going, she tripped over an uprooted part of the tree, landing hard on the ground. Her hands instinctively went out to stop herself, causing her to curse in pain.

Pulling herself back to her feet, she hid behind the tree and waited. Her pursuer ran past and the woman sighed with relief. She was safe. At least, that was what she thought.

As she stepped out from behind the tree, a hook appeared and sliced her head clean off her shoulders. Her pursuer looked down at her decapitated body, happy with his work for the night.

* * *

By 11pm, the club was filling up, a line out the door with customers waiting to get in. Piper made her way through the crowd, trying to get back to the bar from the back room. She couldn't help but cough, this time knowing it was getting worse. Her whole chest felt like it was on fire. While she'd been in the back, her head had been pounding. That was the reason for her getting back out front, so she could grab some more water.

As she spotted Sam still sitting at the bar, keeping his brother and cousin company who were working, she realized that something was off. There were two Sams, and there certainly shouldn't be.

"Piper, you look like you need to go home." Phoebe said, once Piper finally reached the bar. She placed a hand on the top to steady herself, not realizing that she was sweating buckets.

"Phoebe, I'm fine."

Just as she spoke, the whole room span. The next thing she new, the floor was heading for her face. Sam had noticed that his cousin was off-balance, and quickly jumped up from his stool, catching Piper before she hit the floor.

"Call 911!" He shouted over the music. This definitely wasn't like Piper.

* * *

Opening Credits

* * *

Dean and Prue stood either side of the hospital bed, just watching a sleeping Piper. They'd received the phone call about her being taken from the club in an ambulance, and instantly jumped into Dean's Impala to get there. Dean's driving helped them reach the hospital in record time, so they got there while the doctors were still assessing her.

"Hey!" Piper mumbled, opening her eyes slowly, "What are you two doing in my room?"

"You don't remember?" Prue asked, her voice full of concern, as she pulled a chair over to sit next to her sister, "You collapsed and Phoebe called an ambulance. You're in the hospital."

"Oh, I bet that must have been great for business." Piper rolled her eyes, worrying more about her club than her health. Dean sighed, folding his arms. He obviously wasn't happy with her decision to worry about her club.

"The doctors have taken blood tests, okay? They're trying to find out what's wrong with you." Dean told her, before she even had a chance what was wrong.

While the two eldest witches spoke to Piper, the three youngest ones in the family were looking around for Dr. Wallis, Piper's doctor. He'd made it very clear that the results should be back by 8pm and it was now half an hour later than that. While Sam had insisted that it was likely a hold up in the lab, Phoebe and Adam wanted answers. They both rushed over to the nurse's desk, and used their charm to find out as much as they could.

"Piper Halliwell has been transferred to Dr. Williams' care. If you take a seat in the waiting area," the nurse pointed towards the chairs, full of family members and sick patients, "I'll page him."

"What happened to Dr. Wallis?" Adam asked, knowing that it wasn't something minimal. After just three months of doing his pre-med degree, he knew that a change of doctor was usually something serious. He just wish he knew who all the doctors were.

"I'm sure that Dr. Williamson will be able to answer all your questions. Please, have a seat."

As they sat down, Phoebe found herself next to a boy in a wheelchair. He was playing with a little ninja doll, while finding out more about Phoebe—and why she looked so sad if she wasn't sick. The more the two spoke, Phoebe found out that the boy's name was Nathan and he'd found the doll dressed in the black ninja costume on the children's ward.

Trying to make the boy feel better, Phoebe used her ability to make up stories, "If I know my ninja dolls, I think that one's really a magical wi...zard."

"Really? How can you tell?" Nathan's eyes lit up as she told the story, looking at the doll. She used her family's powers as a base, telling him how the doll would freeze the bad guys inside the body without anyone knowing, and then move them around. On top of that, he'd kick box them to make sure they never came back.

"When you feel bad," Phoebe finished off her story, hearing her cousins chuckling beside her, "Just close your eyes and picture him fighting them for you. Do you think you can do that?"

Happy with that, the boy took the doll back and started to pretend to fight with it. Phoebe couldn't help but smile, as a man in a long white coat over the top of a shirt and dark trousers walked over to them.

"Piper Halliwell's family?"

"Yes!" Adam jumped up from the chair, quickly followed by Phoebe and Sam. Adam glanced behind the doctor to see a group of doctors in light blue scrubs standing there, notepads in hand, "Interns?"

"How did you guess?"

"I'm doing pre-med," Adam smiled, "I just figured...wait, is this serious?"

"They're just studying the same field that I did." Dr. Williamson explained, going on to say that he was an infectious disease specialist. They group walked towards Piper's room, while Sam started to question the need for a specialist. This had to mean that it was serious.

Before Dr. Williamson could say anything, they got to Piper's room, where Dean was now standing by the window, his arms across his chest, clearly not happy at something. Piper was awake, holding onto her sister's hand.

"Miss. Halliwell, I'm Dr. Williamson." The doctor instantly introduced himself, making Dean step forward with his eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Where's Dr. Wallis?"

"I'll be keeping him posted," he explained to Dean and then looked over at his patient, "How are you feeling?"

As soon as Piper admitted that she felt a little hot, it started a number of questions about Piper's travelling habits. When she made it clear that she hadn't even been out of the state recently, Dr. Williamson couldn't help but frown.

"Well, you've attracted a blood disease rarely seen in the United States, Arroyo fever."

"How is that possible?" Prue asked. If it was rare, that couldn't be good for treatment.

"Arroyo fever's transmitted through a bite of a sand fly, which dies right after the bite," the doctor explained, as the interns wrote some more notes, "Have you had anything imported into your home recently."

"The club," Sam sighed, rubbing his eyes, "The kewano fruit."

There was a look on Piper's face that told everyone she was guilty of something, but right now it was important to get to the bottom of this for her health. It was possible that the sand flies had survived in the crate, even though it was rare with the quarantine period. Sam glared at his cousin, as they both knew that there was no quarantine period. This was why it was so difficult to get the fruit in.

"I think I have a bite on my shoulder." Piper thought carefully, and then pulled her gown to one side. Dr. Williamson checked it, before finding out about more. The interns busily scribbled notes down as Piper explained that it appeared just after opening the fruit.

"Tell the nurse I need ten CC's of penildron." Dr. Williamson told one of the interns, who quickly rushed out of the room. The doctor then turned back to his patient, "It's a high grade antibiotic, which will be most effective when it is administered through an I.V. It should bring your fever down," his beeper went off, making him check it with a sigh, "I've gotta run some more tests. I'll be back shortly."

"She's gonna be okay, right?" Dean stepped forward, his face had paled considerably hearing all the news, "It's not life threatening."

"I'll know more after I run more tests. Excuse me."

With that, the doctor and his interns left, leaving the family alone. Piper looked between everyone, sensing their fear, "I'll be okay. The tests are just to confirm the diagnosis."

"Maybe we should call Leo." Phoebe said something that a few of them had been thinking. Piper quickly shook her head, making it clear that he wasn't welcome. He wasn't in their lives anymore. She was still angry at him using the club as bait, and it wasn't like he'd be able to heal her. This wasn't magical. It had been her own stupid fault.

"Just let the doctors do their magic."

"I just wanted you to get well soon." Phoebe sat on the bed and then hugged her sister. Piper stroked Phoebe's head, before deciding she'd had enough moping around.

"Right, you guys need to get outta here," Piper told them, "Prue and Dean, you two have work. Phoebe has to pick her electives and Sam and Adam have college to..."

"Electives?" Prue frowned, looking over at her baby sister.

Phoebe just grinned, "I'll tell you on the way home."

* * *

Gordon watched as the Impala pulled up in the driveway of the Halliwell-Winchester Manor. He'd actually come to see Dan, but thought he'd swing by the Manor first to see John Winchester's boys. He'd promised a long time ago to keep an eye on them, especially the youngest, Adam.

Dean shut the car door, glancing over at the stone steps that led up to the front door, "Can I help you?"

"Dean Winchester?" Gordon asked, laughing as he walked towards them, "Well, haven't you grown up. The last time I saw you, you must have been 10. Mind you, I was only 16 myself."

Dean's frown deepened, as his jaw clenched. That hadn't answered his question, and Dean didn't like people not answering his question, especially people he didn't recognize. Prue, Phoebe, Sam and Adam joined Dean, as they walked towards the man, "Do I know you?"

"Like I said, long time ago," Gordon smiled, "The name's Gordon Walker. I knew your dad. Taught me a few things about hunting."

"My dad taught you?" Dean scoffed, walking past the black man and heading to his door, "My dad wasn't one of those to take other hunters under his wing."

"He took you, didn't he?" Gordon said, sensing the weary looks from the rest of the family. Gordon wasn't sure how much all of them knew, "I heard you took that werewolf pack down in Santa Monica two years ago without any backup."

"So, you keep tracks on other hunters?" Dean asked, allowing his family into the house while he stayed outside talking to Gordon. He couldn't help but glance towards Neighbor Dan, sure that this had something to do with him.

"I do when I owe 'em," Gordon nodded, "Owed your dad a few favors. Thought I could repay 'em to you. You know you got a vamp infestation in San Francisco?"

Dean struggled to keep a poker face as he heard the word vamp. He didn't know, but he hadn't really been keeping his ear to the ground recently with everything else going on. Checking up on Dan had become a priority for him, as well as helping Jo through her morning sickness—not that he could do much for that.

Swinging his front door open, Dean motioned for Gordon to follow, "You better make this quick. We've got other stuff to deal with right now."

As soon as they got into the house, Gordon felt himself pushed up against the front door. The taller of the Winchesters, which Gordon had to guess was Sam, held a sharp knife to Gordon's neck.

"Smile." Dean warned the man, standing next to Sam. Gordon frowned and then looked between the two brothers.

"What?"

"Show us those pearly whites."

"Oh, for the love of..." Gordon rolled his brown eyes before glaring at Sam, "You wanna stick that thing someplace else? I'm not a vampire. I'm hunting the damn things."

"What do you know about vampires?" The younger blonde haired male now asked, and Gordon just looked at him. When nobody moved, Gordon lifted one hand up slowly to his mouth. Sam was ready to slice if he needed to, but Gordon showed that underneath his large lips was just the one set of teeth.

"See, fangless. Happy?" Gordon said, looking between them all, "Damn, your dad taught you well."

After the initial welcome, Gordon was shown to the dining table, where he sat and accepted the glass of water offered to him by Phoebe. It was clear the family were busy with something else, but Gordon had really wanted to find out whether the rumors were true. Dean Winchester was back in San Francisco, taking care of the nasties. With his family involved in hunting now, it definitely made sense.

Well, it would have, had he not received the phone call from Dan a few weeks earlier. Dan was certain that he'd found the Charmed Ones. As Gordon looked into more reports, it definitely looked like witches could be around but there were a lot of cases that involved the Halliwells and Winchesters. Gordon couldn't help but wonder whether Dan was slightly off base, and he was just being upstaged by a family of hunters.

"I was sorry to hear about your old man," Gordon broke the ice, talking to Dean directly, "I don't believe for a second that he killed an I.A. investigator without some supernatural reason."

"He didn't do it." Dean told him, not offering anything else. Gordon just nodded his head, and continued to offer the man praise.

"You seem to know a lot about our family." Prue folded her arms, as she watched the black hunter carefully.

"Word travels fast. Hunters talk." Gordon explained, which made many of them in the room feel uncomfortable, "I've heard a lot about the family of hunters in this area. Some didn't want to believe that it was really Dean Winchester settling down. Last we heard, you were travelling with your dad, looking for the thing that killed your mother."

"Yeah, well, things change." Dean shrugged his shoulders, not caring to get into the conversation.

"I gotta say, I'm impressed you're all keeping the normal lives," Gordon nodded, "Law school, college, good jobs. Hell, even a hot club. I've gotta go there some time..."

"So, what are you actually doing here?" Sam now asked, not feeling comfortable that this man seemed to know so much about their family. While he didn't worry about hunters as much, after hearing that Dan was a hunter and seeing just how worried Dean would get about the idea of hunters finding out about them, he was definitely uncomfortable.

Gordon looked over at Dean, "You didn't know about the vamp nest in town then."

"Like I said, been busy," Dean explained, "Why not fill me in and we'll take care of it."

"Oh no, vamps are my thing," Gordon shook his head, "I know where the nest is and I got it covered. I've been on this nest for over a year. Started off in Austin, tracked it here. I'll finish it."

"We could help." Adam offered, but Gordon shook his head.

"I just wanted to stop by," Gordon smiled, "I told your dad I'd keep an eye on ya when I could. It was good to see ya'll."

With that, Gordon finished his water and walked out of the house. No matter how casual it sounded, the five witches felt like something was off. It was clear he knew something more or was there for another reason.

They didn't have time to find out, though, as the phone rang. Prue answered it, making it clear that they were all needed back at the hospital. Piper's condition had gotten worse.

* * *

By the time they'd reached the hospital, Dr. Williamson was just leaving the room. Prue took the lead, calling out to the specialist to find out just why they had to be there.

"Unfortunately, your sister's immune system isn't as strong as we thought it would be," the doctor explained, watching all the expressions. Adam had clicked right away what it meant, but people like Dean and Phoebe were still confused, "And the antibiotics are having no effect on the disease."

"So, what do we...what do you do now?" Phoebe asked, as Prue placed her hand over her mouth. It was soon clear that it was up to Piper's body now. She either had to pull out of the coma on her own, or she wasn't going to survive the blood disorder. Phoebe started crying instantly, falling into Sam, who wrapped his arms around her tightly. Adam placed a hand on Prue's shoulder, as Dean refused to take the response as the final answer.

He grabbed the doctor by the collar, pushing him up against the wall, "You'll go back in there and do everything you can."

"Dean!" Sam shouted, but Dean refused to let go. There was the call for someone to get security, as Dr. Williamson tried to explain that they'd done everything. His anger getting the better of him, Dean threw a punch. Everyone thought it was going to hit the doctor, but instead it smashed the glass frame on the wall, a small hole forming with cracked glass all around. Just inside the hole was a bit of blood from Dean's hand.

"Walk away," Dean warned the doctor, "Walk away before I do something we both regret."

The specialist hurried out of Dean's grasp and down the corridor. Prue rushed over to his cousin's side, grabbing his hand.

"What the hell, Dean?" Sam shouted at his brother, but Dean refused to speak to anyone. Grabbing his hand back, he walked into the room to see Piper connected to numerous machines. Sitting down by her bedside, he grabbed her hand and placed it to his lips.

"You have got to pull through this," Dean told her, making the rest of his family's hearts break, "You hear me? You gotta pull through this, Piper."

* * *

Adam had chosen to stay at the hospital with Piper, while Dean left to work off some of his anger. Knowing that there were possibly vampires about and that he had a hunter possibly on his tail, he took a trip to the Roadhouse. Sure, he wasn't completely welcome despite Jo finally accepting that he was a good witch, but he needed answers.

As he walked through the door, all eyes were on him. Ash spotted him from the other side of the room and rushed over, ushering him back out of the bar, "You don't wanna be here, man."

"What? Why not?"

"Dean Winchester!" Ellen's voice boomed through the bar, and everyone quickly went back to their own drinks and snacks. Dean looked at Ash with raised eyebrows. He'd never heard that tone from her, even when he was shouting at her about his dad being there and injured. It was a tone he never wanted to hear, because he knew it meant death.

Dean didn't have the chance to rush out of Harvelle's Roadhouse, as Ellen stormed around the bar and directly to the hunter, "You get your ass in that backroom right this instant."

Despite wanting to run, Dean knew that disobeying that order would only make it worse when she finally got him alone. It had been his own fault for coming to the Roadhouse in the first place. Making his way through the bar, he walked into the backroom, instantly spotting Jo.

"I'm sorry." Jo apologized, and Dean instantly knew what it was all about. Ellen's footsteps got closer behind him before he even had a chance to tell Jo that he forgave her. She was bound to have to tell the woman eventually. What had Dean expected Jo to do? Lie to her mother about the father of her child? Yeah, that was really going to work out.

"I should shoot you for going near her," Ellen said, slapping Dean over the head. Despite her size, she had a forceful slap, making Dean rub the back of his head, "Now sit down. You two better create some sort of plan."

"Mom!"

"Don't 'mom' me, Joanna Beth," Ellen warned her daughter, "You are not getting away that easy. When you two went hunting, you said you'd keep her safe, Dean."

"I did," Dean nodded his head, trying not to tell her about the slight slip when Jo was taken by the vengeful spirit. That hunting trip had led to all this, and it was best not bringing anything from it up, "She's back with you in one piece."

"One piece!" Ellen shouted, "She's back here pregnant! You know I trust you as far as I can throw you, and I don't have powers like your brother and cousin, so that ain't that far."

"I'd...I'm sorry," Dean decided not to argue. He wasn't in the mood for it with everything he'd been through today, "I know, we messed up but I'm going to be here for your daughter; for my daughter."

"Your daughter?" Jo asked, frowning. Dean instantly closed his eyes, regretting saying that. He hadn't told Jo about the trip to the future yet, and it wouldn't be a good idea to go into it now.

Dean shrugged with a small smile to get himself out of this, "I just think a little girl with blonde hair in pigtails running around will be cute."

Jo smiled softly, before glancing at her mother. Ellen had not been impressed with that, and her smile quickly dropped. Jo glanced at her hands, while Dean placed his own hands in the pockets of his washed out denim jeans.

"There's nothing I can do to..."

"I'm worried, Dean," Ellen cut him off, "That's what all this is about. How can you keep my daughter safe when she's carrying your child? A child that's going to be a witch, just like its daddy. You have demons after you, Dean. How could you not...what can you do to keep my grandchild safe?"

Dean nodded his head. The fears were legitimate, and frankly fears that he'd had himself. He hadn't even told his family about this yet. Jo had wanted to hold off telling anyone until they knew that the first 12 weeks was over. It would be a New Year surprise for all, but somehow Ellen had found out. Dean wasn't even going to dwell on that; just on the fact that she knew and had the same concerns as him.

"I don't know, yet, Ellen," Dean finally admitted openly, and he could see the fear in her hazel eyes, "I wish I did, but I don't have all the answers right now. To be honest, I can't really think about that at the moment. Erm, Piper's in a coma and..."

"What?" Jo looked at Dean with raised eyebrows. That wasn't something she expected to hear. Ellen grabbed Dean's hand, and he tried everything not to lean into the touch and accept the hug that he knew she would offer at a moment's notice. This was Ellen and she was quickly becoming a second mother to him.

"She got some rare disease because of some fruit. I...that's not all," Dean sighed, running a hand through his dirty blonde hair. That wasn't the reason he'd come in, "Have either of you heard of a hunter called Gordon Walker?"

"Gordon Walker?" Ellen's worry turned to concern, "He's in town?" Dean nodded his head, and Ellen quickly, "Well, he's a damn good hunter. What the hell is he doing here, though?"

"Said something about a vamp nest in San Francisco," Dean explained, keeping his eyes on Ellen, "But after finding out that my neighbor is a hunter I..."

"Your neighbor's a hunter?" Jo now asked, "Which one?"

"The new one, Dan."

"Dan Gordon?" Ellen asked now, her frown deepening. Dean had just realized that the name Gordon had come up twice now, and he couldn't help but chuckle. The two women in the room glared at him, as Ellen rattled off something about those two had to be working together, "They got into hunting for similar reasons. Gordon's sister was killed by a vampire. Same vampire killed Dan's brother..."

"But he said his niece's parents were in Saudi Arabia."

"There were three of 'em," Ellen explained, "Dan and his sister got into the hunting business shortly after. Dan and Gordon, well, they found out they were hunting the same thing and teamed up. Only time I've known the two of them work with others. They don't play well in a team. If you say Gordon is here for some vamps, let him have 'em. He's dangerous to everyone and everything around him. But keep your eye on 'em, especially with your family secret."

Dean didn't bother arguing. There was no way that Ellen would say that if she didn't mean it, and she definitely knew the hunting community. With a nod of his head, he glanced over to Jo, "Best you don't come by any time soon."

* * *

Meanwhile, over at the Halliwell-Winchester Manor, Prue, Phoebe and Sam were standing around the Book of Shadows. As much as Sam hated the idea of using magic for personal gain, he was with Prue on this one. The doctors couldn't do anything, and he wouldn't let his cousin die.

"Look, we can call Leo..." Phoebe suggested, knowing what it was like to have a spell backfire because of personal gain.

"No. She told us not to." Prue cut her little sister off, but Phoebe refused to listen to that. It was better to have a pissed off sister than a dead one.

"We don't know how to contact him, Phoebs," Sam pointed out, "He's just always sorta been around."

The three witches looked at each other, as they resigned that maybe he was the best option. Calling out Leo's name, the three witches just hope that it would work. Suddenly, blue and white lights appeared in the room, forming into their white lighter.

"Whoa, it worked!" Phoebe exclaimed, partially proud of the fact that they'd worked out how to get him over to them. Prue didn't have time to be happy about that fact, jumping straight into the fact that Piper was very sick. What surprised all three witches was that Leo already knew. He'd been watching over them all, angering them that he hadn't done anything yet. Maybe it was a good job that Dean wasn't around considering the outburst he'd had in the hospital.

"They know about Piper, too, and they won't let me interfere," Leo explained to them, motioning upwards at his bosses, "I'm not even supposed to be here right now."

"Leo, you can't just let Piper die." Prue pleaded with the man, but he just shook his head. Despite the amount he loved her, he couldn't do anything. It wasn't like his powers would probably work, anyway. It wasn't something evil that had caused this. This was all normal, and it had to be left to the doctors.

Glancing up, the witches realized that Dean was getting a call from someone else and he disappeared, asking for them to tell Piper that he loved her. He always would.

Phoebe shook her head and waited for Leo's orbs to disappear. Once they were gone, she stormed over to the Book of Shadows, "Screw the consequences." She needed to find a way to save her sister.

* * *

Jenny looked up at the tall black man standing on her porch. She raised an eyebrow, not recognizing him, "Can I help you?"

"You must be Jenny, right?" the man asked with a soft smile, "I'm Gordon, a friend of your uncle's. He in?"

Jenny frowned but glanced behind her anyway, "Uncle Dan!" She didn't leave the door and didn't take her eyes of Gordon until her uncle got to her. There was just something about him that she didn't trust.

"Gordon!" Dan smiled, walking over to the door. Quickly telling Jenny to go and do her homework, Dan allowed his old hunting buddy into the house and closed the door behind him, "I wasn't expecting you for another week."

"Funnily enough, the vamp nest led me to here," Gordon explained, as he sat on the couch in Dan's living room, "You know, this house isn't that much different to the one next door."

"You've been next door?" Dan was quite taken aback, considering how hard it had been for him to get through. He'd assumed that Dean was just extra cautious at first, but now he was sure that there was something else. They just didn't want outsiders into their house because it would give away just who and what they really were.

"Nothing out of the ordinary," Gordon shrugged his shoulders, "So, what makes you think the legendary John Winchester was a witch?"

"I don't," Dan shook his head, leaning back in his own chair, "I think his wife was. Those Winchesters are definitely witches and it's time we stopped them."

* * *

Sam had the spell in his hand, as he, Prue and Phoebe raced down the corridors of the hospital. Once they reached a crossroad of corridors, they split up to get to their needed destinations. Prue would get Piper's blood, while Sam went with her to explain everything to Adam. Phoebe was in charge of finding a poppet, deciding that she knew just the thing.

Just as Prue and Sam made it to the room, a nurse was there drawing more bloods from Piper. She would have to have regular blood tests to see how far the disease was spreading and whether Piper's body was fighting it off on its own. Adam was still in the chair they'd left him hours ago, watching his cousin with fear in his eyes.

"How is she?" Sam asked, while Prue waited for the nurse to put a container of Piper's blood on the tray. Once there, she was able to wave her hand and make the container float over to her. Adam hadn't noticed it, with Sam distracting him.

"No change, yet." Adam shook his head, everything in his brain telling him that Piper couldn't pull out of this. Coma was bad, especially when the body put itself into one.

"She'll wake up," Sam told him, waiting for the nurse to leave. Once she was gone, he grinned and turned back to Adam, "We have a plan."

"More like a spell." Prue grinned at her baby cousin, holding up the vial of blood she had magically swiped.

* * *

As Prue and Sam did that, Phoebe raced down the corridor to the children's ward. Looking in various rooms, she finally found one with Nathan, who was still playing with the ninja doll. Phoebe tapped on the door, walking in with a smile on her face, "Hey, Nathan. Remember me?"

"Phoebe! I was hoping you'd come back," Nathan grinned, holding up the doll, "The wizard did it and I feel great."

Phoebe couldn't help but comment about how it was the power of positive thinking, but Nathan was sure that it was magic. Nathan would be leaving the hospital in a couple of days, which was great for all. Phoebe was so grateful, and could use that as a way to get the poppet from him. As soon as she explained that her sister really needed the magic, Nathan happily handed the doll over to her. It was Piper's to keep; it wasn't like he needed the wizard anymore.

* * *

Dean had raced back to the hospital when he'd got the voicemail from his brother. It was a bit jumbled and difficult to understand, but Dean could tell that he needed to get to Piper because they thought they had something to help her. Rushing up the stairs to her floor, everything that had happened over the last few hours had hit him. He stopped in the corridor and took a deep breath.

In a few months he was going to be a father. Not just a father to any baby, but to a witch. One with magical powers. Yes, he had magical powers, too, but he didn't remember having them as a child. He didn't remember learning how to control them. And on top of all that, he had a hunter living next door and one who happened to be friends with the hunter next door who was extremely dangerous. With all that going on, his cousin was in a coma, and may not wake up. How much could one person take?

"Dean!" Phoebe's voice pulled him out of his thoughts, as she jogged up to him holding a ninja doll. Pulling him down the hall, they got to Piper's room, where Prue, Sam and Adam were waiting with Piper, who was still in a coma. Looking around the room, he noticed a piece of paper in Sam's hand and then the vial of blood in Prue's.

"What's going on?" Dean asked, closing the door behind them to give them all some privacy, "Are you guys casting a spell? Are you stupid? What about personal gain?"

"Screw the consequences, Dean," Sam shook his head, "You really wanna see Piper die?"

Dean sighed and then shook his head. Of course he didn't want to see that, so he rushed over and joined his brothers and cousins, as Phoebe laid the ninja doll on Piper's stomach. Prue dropped a bit of Piper's blood on it, and then Sam laid out the spell.

" _Troubled blood with sleeps unease,_

 _Remove the cause of this disease..."_

While they said their spell, Dr. Williamson tried to get into the room. Adam quickly held up his hand, preventing the door from opening with his powers. It gave the five witches a chance to continue.

" _Sleep eternal never more,_

 _And shift this source of illness borne..."_

Dr. Williamson pushed against the door, shouting at someone to let him in.

" _To this poppet whom none shall mourn."_

The five cousins watched as Piper remained still in the bed. Phoebe shook her head, worry filling her eyes, "It's not working."

Before anyone could say anything, Piper sat up in the bed, snapping the oxygen mask off her face. Phoebe jumped onto her sister, hugging her tight, as Adam let his hand down. Dr. Williamson finally barged his way into the room, shouting about someone blocking the door.

"What's up, Doc?" Dean asked, looking at him as if he was crazy. The doctor just looked at the door and then at the six family members. What had surprised him was seeing Piper now awake, sitting up in the bed.

"When did this happen? Miss Halliwell, are you feeling alright?"

While Dr. Williamson checked on Piper, Sam grabbed the poppet and placed it in the bin. If he'd have remained there for a little longer, he would have seen the ninja doll's eyes snap open.

"This doesn't make any sense," Dr. Williamson said, checking Piper's vitals again, "Fever's gone, vitals are normal. I've never seen anything like it. The infection looks like it's gone, too."

"So, can I go home now?" Piper asked, hope filling her eyes. She'd find out what her family had done once she was there. The doctor didn't initially want her to leave, but definitely insisted on more bloods being drawn so they could run comparatives. The witches just laughed, as Prue and Phoebe climbed on top of Piper to hug her tight.

Sam, still standing by the bin, watched with a smile. Suddenly, he felt something sharp prick his ankle through his jeans. Snapping his leg away, he looked down at the side of the bin but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe he just imagined it.

If Sam had have looked inside the bin, he would have seen the ninja doll using its sword to get out of the plastic, so he could make his attack on the hospital.

* * *

Nobody really thought anything of the spell and Sam definitely didn't think much of the sore throat he was getting. He'd been doing extra work lately, so it wouldn't be surprising that he was starting to run himself down. Despite telling Piper to slow down, he knew he was guilty of overworking just as much.

The problems only really started when Sam started with a chesty cough and Piper started dancing around P3x2 at three in the morning. Constantly blaming it on being asleep all day, Piper send her bartender home and finished off the cleaning. It would only a take 20 minutes of so, and she felt great.

Of course, Prue, Phoebe and Adam were falling asleep in one of the booths. Well, they were trying hard not to, and Prue was keeping their eyes on Sam. He was getting paler and clammier by the minute. In Piper's defence she had no idea about the spell, and it was only after getting rid of the barman that she was able to talk to her sisters and cousins about what had happened.

"Okay, spill," she turned to all of them, catching them off guard, "You guys cast a spell, didn't you?"

"Who us?" Prue asked, feigning innocence but it didn't work. Being Prue's sister for 27 years had taught Piper a lot about her mannerisms. It didn't help that Adam and Phoebe were shrinking into a corner, and Sam sounded like he was going to cough up a lung.

"You know, it's not that I'm not grateful," Piper explained, "But what about personal gain?"

"Don't you think we would have..." Sam started, but had another coughing fit, "Seen...some...consquences..."

"Alright, you need to get home!" Adam told his brother, standing up from the booth to help Sam out. Initially protesting, Sam just didn't have the energy to fight back and agreed to let his little brother pull him out of the booth.

"You know, it's strange. With all the demons we've faced, this bug has been the scariest of them all." Piper admitted, watching as Phoebe got out of the booth to give Dean a helping hand to get Sam home.

Sam was too tired to even stand up, and it didn't help that the floor just seemed to disappear from beneath him. Despite both his brother and cousin helping him up, Sam suddenly collapsed onto the floor, hitting his head on the table as he went.

"Sam!" Phoebe screamed, as Piper quickly rushed to the phone to call for an ambulance. She was quickly starting to wonder whether this was some consequence to the personal gain spell.

* * *

What the Halliwells and Winchesters hadn't realized was that Arroyo fever was quickly spreading around the hospital; unknown for the disease. Of course, they didn't see the little ninja doll making its way around the hospital, attacking those in its path.

"Okay, put them on penildron, though I doubt it'll do them any good," Dr. Williamson said into the phone, just as a man walked over to him, "Call me if there's any changes." The doctor hung up, watching the man in the suit, who held up a badge.

"And what can the Centers of Disease Control do for you this fine middle of the night, Dr. Williamson?" The man asked, placing his badge back into his jacket. Dr. Williamson sighed with a grave look on his face. He'd been in the bad books before with the CDC, because he'd used them to try and get published, but this time it was for a genuine reason. As he started to explain that he had an outbreak of Arroyo fever in the hospital, the man cut him off.

"That's impossible. Arroyo fever isn't contagious."

"It is now. I've got three patients with it in isolation."

Just as they spoke, a gurney was rushed through the corridor to isolation, and Dr. Williamson instantly recognized the man as one of Piper Halliwell's cousins. Looking over at the paramedics, they mentioned something about being told to bring him straight up for blood tests, and the infectious diseases specialist couldn't help but glance across back at the doors. Sure enough, four of the other members were waiting nervously.

"I don't know how they got the disease, but I know it has something to do with her."

For the CDC doctor, it made it much easier to have the first patient in the hospital. Dr. Seiger walked over to the family, introducing himself and asked them all to follow him. He would worry about the legalities of it later. Then he could also worry about getting Dean Winchester into the hospital.

Of course, it was only a few hours later that he had a court order to take all the Halliwells and Winchesters into custody. Now it was just a case of finding the eldest Winchester.

* * *

On the other side of San Francisco, Dan and Gordon had been watching the news as Dr. Williamson gave a press conference about the outbreak. Dan—more well travelled than Gordon—knew that Arroyo fever didn't spread between people; it was through sand fly bites. Instantly suspicious, he turned the volume up on the remote.

As Dr. Williamson refused to classify it as an epidemic, he did have to leave it to the CDC to determine anything further. All he knew was that having the initial carrier in the hospital meant that the situation was contained.

"Is it true they closed down the night club P3x2 because of this outbreak?" A reporter asked, and Dan instantly frowned.

"What is it?" Gordon looked over at his hunting buddy, while sharpening one of his machetes.

"That's Piper Halliwell's club," Dan explained, "If she has something to do with this, it's not natural."

"Let's go hunting, then." Gordon grinned, his pearly whites standing out against his dark skin. Deep down, though, Dan wasn't sure whether all this was a good idea. He knew Dean Winchester was a hunter. Being a witch too made little sense, especially being evil. Maybe finding Dean would help to answer a few questions.

When they'd tried the house next door and found nobody at home, Dan and Gordon took a trip to Ellen Harvelle's Roadhouse, hearing that Dean liked to visit there. Even if he wasn't there, it could give them some ideas on where to start searching.

* * *

Back at the hospital, Phoebe, Piper and Adam found themselves in white gowns and locked in an isolation room. Prue had been taken a while ago—although they weren't exactly sure when that was since there was no clock—and nobody was coming to them with any updates. The most worrying part was Sam, who was somewhere else in the hospital, possibly in the same coma that Piper had been in the day before.

"Hello? Remember us?" Phoebe had gotten bored and was now knocking on the door. A small circular window helped her see a nurse on the other side, who had locked eyes with her. The blonde haired nurse walked over to the door, but didn't open it. Instead, she pressed something next to the door and spoke.

"I'm sorry, we can't hear you," the nurse's voice came over a speaker, obviously speaking through an intercom, "What is it you want?"

"We wanna get the hell outta here. That's what we want." Phoebe threw her hands up in exasperation. It didn't do much good, as the nurse just told them to wait for Dr. Williamson and then got on with her job.

Phoebe turned back to her sister and cousin, shaking her head. Adam rubbed his eyes, "Why won't they tell us anything?"

"They're lucky they're in the other room. I'd freeze their butts." Piper grumbled, just as the door opened and Prue walked in, also dressed in a white hospital gown. Her two sisters and cousin rushed over to her, hugging her.

"They just took like a quart of blood!" Prue showed them the bruise in her arm that was already forming. She'd obviously been taken for the same reasons each of the others had been taken for. Piper moaned, as she sat on one of the beds in the room. Getting ill in front of customers was one thing, but they were temporarily closing down the club. Something like that would ruin business.

"Once this whole thing gets straightened out, it'll be fine." Adam tried to encourage his cousin, but Prue disagreed. While she'd been out with the other doctors, she'd heard some discussing other patients. There were others infected with the disease. Adam looked up at Prue with panic in his eyes, "Sam?"

As Prue nodded her head, Phoebe frowned, covering her mouth, "But I didn't think it was contagious."

"I have a bad feeling that spell had some personal gain after all." Piper groaned again, putting her head on Adam's shoulder.

* * *

While they worried about the personal gain spell, Dean sat at the bar of the Harvelle Roadhouse. He wasn't drinking, but had spent the night talking to Jo. Seeing Piper so close to death had scared him, and he couldn't face going back home after making an appearance at the club. He wanted to see Jo and make sure his unborn baby was okay. He needed something good to come out of the day.

While they sat discussing some plans for the future, the door opened. Two men walked in, and Jo instantly recognized one of them. Frowning, she turned to Dean, "What's your neighbor doing here?"

Dean turned around in the booth to see Dan and Gordon by the door. As soon as they spotted him, Gordon grinned and Dean couldn't help but groan.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Dean said to her, before standing and making his way over to the two hunters, "Dan, I didn't know you came here. Never seen you in here before."

"It's been a long time since I've been in here," Dan shrugged his shoulders, "But I heard you come here a lot and I thought you might be here now. You know, it's strange. There's been an outbreak of Arroyo fever in the hospital and they've shut down Piper's club. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

"Arroyo fever? What's that?" Dean kept his poker face, watching the two men. He'd sensed Jo get up from the table, but didn't know where she was now. If he'd looked around, he have seen her standing by the bar with her mother and Ash.

"What can I do for you boys?" Ellen asked them, trying to diffuse the situation and protect Dean at the same time.

"Just here for some help from Deano here," Gordon shrugged his shoulders, "Nothing to worry your head about, Ellen."

"I'm not worried, but when you're in my bar, you answer to me," Ellen pointed out, "Now, what can I do for you?"

Dan and Gordon turned back to Dean, locking eyes with him. Dean would have been lying if he said he wasn't nervous, but he wasn't about to let them see that. Sure, he could just freeze them and get away from there, but that would give away the secret. If they hadn't already worked something out—which Dean believed they may have done—they would do if he used his magic.

"I'm sure you know what Arroyo fever is, Dean. You're not stupid," Dan pointed out, "Didn't Piper get it just yesterday? Made a miraculous recovering?"

Dean frowned, his poker face slipping. How could Dan possibly know something like that? Before he even had a chance to ask, Dan laughed, mentioning how he had a bird in the hospital, "I hear Sam is there now, same disease. And there's a few other people coming down with it. Strange, considering it isn't contagious."

Not hearing anything after finding out that Sam had the disease, Dean turned to face Ellen and Jo. He needed to call his family. If it was the truth, why hadn't they called him first? As all their phones went to voicemail, he started to fear the worst. Had they all now come down with it? The only way that could happen was through some sort of magic, and Dean knew that it had something to do with the personal gain spell he and his family cast.

"Dean?" Jo asked, her voice scared and weak, as Dean leaned forward on the bar. He took a deep breath, trying to block out the feeling of all eyes on him. While he knew Ellen and Jo were worried, Dan and Gordon seemed to be enjoying this; as if they knew that his family had something to do with it.

"Dean, son..." Ellen started, but Gordon cut her off.

"I want to know why you of all people are protecting a witch." Dean hadn't looked up to see who Gordon was talking to, but something told him that it wasn't to him. Not that he cared with the feeling that his whole family had come down with the dangerous disease that would have killed Piper had they not cast the spell yesterday.

"What do you mean?" Ellen asked, a threatening sound to her voice.

"You're really gonna play dumb, Ellen? We know about Dean and his family," Gordon said, "And after the way Bill died..."

"You don't get to talk about my husband," Ellen shook her head, "He died fighting evil."

"He died fighting witches," Dan pointed out, "Witches are evil."

"Not all witches." Jo now joined in with the conversation. It just started an argument between the four hunters, and Dean was struggling to think. Gripping the bar, he watched as his knuckles went white. The arguing got louder and louder, and Dean closed his eyes trying to block everything out.

"Enough!" Dean finally shouted, turning around to face Gordon and Dan, "You want to persecute a good witch, fine. But I need to put this right first. Let me do that."

"How do you think you can put something like this right?" Dan asked, frowning, "Using more magic?"

"Reversing the magic," Dean sighed, grabbing his jacket, "I think I know what happened, and we never wanted to harm anyone. Now, let me fix this and then tell me you think all witches are evil." Dean started walking out of the door, but turned around to face the hunters, "We're not by the way—evil. Some of us are good and help innocents. Just ask Jo about the monsters we've faced."

* * *

The first place Dean tried before going to the hospital was the club, but as soon as he did, he realized it was a mistake. There was a huge notice on the front door to say that the club was closed until further notice. It was quarantined, and Dean knew that it meant the disease had spread.

"Can I help you?" A man asked, walking over to the Impala. Dean shook his head, before driving away.

He had to drive close to the house on the way to the hospital, and was shocked to see that the similar vans and men in hazmat suits were there, too. It was clearly a major issues, and Dan and Gordon had been telling the truth. Sam had come down with it, and now possibly his whole family.

Racing through the streets of San Francisco, Dean wasted no time getting to the hospital. The radio news had told him that there was a disease spreading through the hospital, and all Dean could think of was that his family had done this. Magic had caused this, and all because they'd decided to cast one little spell for personal gain. Even though he knew it meant risking Piper's life, he knew that this had to be reversed.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the hospital, the ninja doll was still making its rounds. By now, it had found its way to the children's ward to a room where Nathan was sleeping in his bed. The doll pulled out its sword as it walked into the room, ready to attack.

* * *

The four cousins had been in quarantine for what felt like days. It hadn't. According to the clock above the door, it had just been a few hours, but time was moving slowly. All Piper could think of was the loss of money to the club, and Adam and Prue couldn't help but worry about Sam lying somewhere else in the hospital.

Suddenly the door opened, and a man's shouting voice could be heard. Adam frowned, standing from the bed, recognizing the voice instantly.

"Dean?" Adam questioned, just as Dean was forced roughly into the room by two large men. He was dressed in a white hospital gown, obviously forced into.

"You wait until I get outta here..." Dean threatened the men, as the room door was closed. Dean slammed his fist into the door, instantly regretting it when all it did was send pain up his hand. His cousins and brother ran over to him, Phoebe taking his hand to look at it.

"They got you?" Prue asked, but Dean shook his head.

"I heard about Sammy, and came to the hospital," Dean sighed, rubbing his chin with his free hand, "I should have known not to give them my real name, but, well...I wasn't exactly thinking at the time. They took me to some room and took about two litres of blood."

Prue smirked at her cousin's overreaction, before frowning, "How did you hear about Sam?"

"Dan knows we're witches," Dean admitted, looking at them all gravely, "And we need to reverse that spell before this disease keeps spreading."

Before they could say anything else, Dr. Williamson walked into the room. He was the first person to come into the room without a mask, and Phoebe couldn't help but point that out.

"However the disease is being spread, it's not airborne. I just ruled that out."

"Great, then we're free to go." Piper grinned, stepping forward with an expected look on her face. Unfortunately, it wasn't and as much as Phoebe tried to argue that they couldn't be held here, the doctor disagreed. If Sam hadn't been the one in the coma right now, he'd have been able to explain that by Piper carrying the rare disease, there was the chance of spreading it to epidemic proportions."

"But you said it wasn't contagious." Adam argued.

"Arroyo fever isn't supposed to be contagious," Dr. Williamson pointed out, but knew that it wasn't a misdiagnosis, "There's also your recovery that makes no clinical sense. Your blood has no antibodies, which means your immune system has never fought it off. By all medical standards, you should be dead by now, Miss. Halliwell."

"What's up, Doc?" Dean smirked, "Don't believe in miracles?" Of course, neither did Dean but he was putting a defense up.

"You know, I'm surprised you're making jokes," Dr. Williamson looked directly at Dean, "Your brother is in a coma because of this disease. There are six other people infected, and nothing I can do to save them unless I figure out how your cousin survived. I'm gonna run a series of tests on all of your bloods, even DNA sampling. Maybe it's a genetic marker, I don't know. But I'm gonna find out and you're not leaving until I do."

With that, the doctor turned and left the room. There was a heavy and grave feeling left in the room.

"How is it possible that six people are infected?" Piper asked, "And Sam?"

"When we did the spell, we must have awakened everything in the room, including the disease." Prue suggested, looking across at Dean, who had perched on the end of one of the beds, running his hand through his hair.

"Maybe we have different blood because we're witches." Phoebe suggested, but that didn't make sense. Sam had been infected. It had to be because of the spell.

"We have to reverse the spell." Dean repeated something he'd said before the doctor walked in.

"But we can't. Piper..." Phoebe started, but Piper sighed with a nod of her head. She knew that even if it meant she would go into a coma, they had to save others.

"Reverse the spell and cal Leo, so he can heal me."

Prue and Phoebe looked at each other nervously, before looking back at Piper, "He's not allowed to help."

"They won't let him." Phoebe clarified, making Adam and Dean look at Phoebe with anger in their eyes. Dean had at least hoped that their white lighter would be able to help them, but now it was clear that Piper could really end up dying because of this.

"We don't even know the reversal spell." Phoebe sighed.

"Prue can get it." Adam sighed, realizing that there wasn't an option here. Prue instantly started arguing over the fact that she had no control to astral project on command, but Piper refused to listen. Prue could control it if she really wanted. They had to do this, because they couldn't let someone else die. They couldn't leave Sam to be the one that could face the consequences of their actions.

Taking a deep breath, Prue closed her eyes and made a conscious effort to astral project. Suddenly she appeared in the attic of the Halliwell-Winchester attic, and knew that it had worked. She had to quickly get to work on finding the spell.

Back at the hospital, a nurse had looked into the room to see Prue standing perfectly still with her eyes closed. She pressed the intercom to find out what had happened to the patient, but Phoebe made it clear that everything was fine. Prue just had to work quickly.

After a couple of minutes, Prue opened her eyes and looked around the room. The four witches looked at her expectantly.

"Did you see it?" Piper asked. While Prue had, she still wasn't certain about this.

"We have to," Piper sighed, "If we don't, Sam will die. I'm not going to be the one to live with that. There's no magical out for me, but there is for Sam and all the innocents. Please, Prue."

Dean's eyes were watery, as he fought the tears. He was going to lose his cousin to get his brother back, or he would lose his brother to save a cousin that was like his sister. It wasn't an easy decision, but they had to put this right.

With a deep sigh, Prue nodded her head and then told them the spell.

"Wait, will it work with just four of us saying it?" Adam now asked, "Five of us said it to wake Piper."

"I'll say it, too," Piper told them, "Then it will be five of us. Now say it."

The four cousins touched Piper, and repeated the spell a couple of times.

" _What was awakened from its sleep must once again slumber deep."_

* * *

While they said the spell, the ninja in Nathan's room was making his way across the bed. The sleeping boy had no idea what was happening. Just as he was about to stab the child, the ninja turned back into a doll and fell off the bed and onto the hospital floor.

The spell had worked.

* * *

It had meant that Piper had also collapsed into Dean's arms, feeling the full effects of the disease again. Phoebe instantly started crying, trying to get the attention of anyone to help her.

Prue rushed to the door, banging on it to get attention, while Dean laid his cousin on the bed. Adam pulled a crying Phoebe back, panicking at how quickly Piper had suffered after saying the spell. It was as if the spell had never been spoken.

Dr. Williamson looked through the window to see Piper now on the bed, unconscious. He rushed into the room, followed by other doctors and nurses. As one doctor checked for a pulse, Dr. Williamson looked at the witches, "Do you wanna tell me what the hell is going on?"

"Starting CPR!" The doctor shouted out, making it clear that he needed a crash cart. As Phoebe cried into Adam, Dean grabbed Prue and held her close. He couldn't take his eyes off his dying cousin.

* * *

Gordon and Dan had made their way to the hospital, just in time to see the doctors and nurses rushing around. There was panic everywhere, and it was soon clear that a patient had needed resuscitating. While Gordon muttered something about witches, Dan couldn't help but wonder whether Dean had stuck to his word and reversed whatever magic was done.

* * *

"She's not responding to CPR!" Dr. Williamson sighed, taking over from the original doctor, "C'mon, Miss Halliwell."

Piper's spirit rose from her body, and the other witches instantly panicked. It meant one thing. She was passing on.

"No, Piper," Dean shook his head, "Stay here...don't..."

Piper looked up and made her way to a bright light above her. The place was golden and bright, almost as if she was somewhere in the Heavens. Looking towards what looked like an orange sun, Piper had no choice but to shield her eyes. It looked like someone was walking towards her, but Piper couldn't make it out properly until the person got closed.

"Leo?"

"Hurry, take my hands," Leo told her, "We don't have much time."

"Am I dead?" Piper asked, looking around the place again. As Leo reiterated that she needed to take his hands, "I don't understand."

"It's the only way I can heal you," Leo explained, his hands still out. He looked around him, knowing that he was going to get into a lot of trouble if he was caught, "It's the only chance I have of them not finding out. Hurry."

With a frown, Piper hesitantly held out her hands to take those of her white lighter.

* * *

Back in the room, Dr. Williamson finally had the crash cart. Using the paddles, he tried to restart her heart. After three attempts, the doctor shook his head and looked up at the nurse opposite him. He knew that Piper's sisters and cousins were crying and scared, hoping against everything that Piper would wake up.

Dr. Williamson took a step back and shook his head, looking over at one of the doctors, "Time of death, 9:40am."

Dean pulled Prue closer to him as he heard the doctor, but then looked up. Piper's spirit was floating back down from the ceiling and into her body.

"Wait!" Dean pointed, and his cousins and brother couldn't help but look at what he was seeing.

"She's responding," Prue looked over at the monitors, "There's a heartbeat."

The doctor couldn't believe it as Piper started coughing, whispering the name Leo. Prue, Phoebe, Dean and Adam didn't care. All they knew was Piper was back with them. Dean didn't miss the doctor promising to find out what had happened. That would be something he'd deal with another day.

* * *

Piper handed a box of unopened fruit to one of the bartenders, just as Prue, Phoebe and Sam walked into the club. Sam couldn't help but smirk as he heard Piper say she was returning it to the supplier.

"Looks like someone learned her lesson."

"Yeah, the hard way," Piper admitted, looking directly at her cousin, "I'm so sorry what happened to you."

"Don't be," Sa, shook his head, "It wasn't completely your fault. It was all of ours. We shouldn't have cast the personal gain spell, and me almost dying reminded us of that. You reversed it, and we're all okay."

Piper smiled with a small nod, as Prue looked around at the club that was quickly filling up, "It looks like quarantine didn't ruin business too much."

"Yeah, thanks to no cover charge and two free drinks for all," Piper sighed, "But needs must. Where are Adam and Dean?"

"Adam is back in dorms, and Dean is trying to work things through with Dan and Gordon," Phoebe bit her bottom lip, "You know, with the whole knowing we're witches thing."

"Dean's fear come to life," Sam sighed, "I don't know how he's going to keep this from the rest of the hunter community."

"He's got Ellen and Jo, right?" Prue asked, "I'm sure he'll figure something out."

Sam smirked, before glancing over to the stairs, where Leo was now standing. Nudging his middle cousin, he motioned over with his head, "Piper. It's Leo."

"Tell him thanks for us." Phoebe nudged the middle Halliwell, getting her to walk over to the man who had saved her life. Piper didn't need encouraging twice. She walked over to the white lighter with a soft smile.

"Hey."

"How are you feeling?" Leo asked, concerned about her after healing her just before she crossed over.

"A little tired, which is actually a good thing. Thank you," Piper smiled at him, "For everything you..."

"I couldn't let you die, Piper." Leo cut her off, as if it was enough of an explanation. Of course, it turned out that his actions had gotten him into trouble. The Founders had decided to clip his wings for using his powers when he shouldn't have. To help Piper understand, he likened it to a suspension; at least, that's all he hoped it was.

"I...I...I don't know what to say." Piper felt more guilt, as she realized she'd caused Leo to lose his ability to help people.

"You didn't do anything, it was me," Leo smiled, grabbing her hands, "I guess I always hoped someday, somehow you and I would get a second chance."

"Leo..." As much as she'd love to get back with him, the pain from when they'd tried before was still raw.

"I'm gonna fight for you, Piper," Leo looked into her brown eyes, "I know you don't want to trust me, but I'll prove to you that you can. I'm not going anywhere now I'm mortal."

* * *

Across San Francisco, just on the outskirts, Dean waited in the Roadhouse for Dan and Gordon. He knew they'd show up, especially once they heard what had happened. He desperately knew that he had to help the two hunters see that not all witches were evil. He wasn't evil. Deep down, he was still a hunter.

Jo had come around and Ellen and Bobby clearly understood, there was hope that others would too. The problem was when Dean showed up at the Roadhouse, the two hunters weren't there.

"I'm surprised you're showing your face around other hunters." A familiar voice said, and Dean glanced across to see the dark-skinned hunter on his right. He glanced to his left, but realized Dan wasn't there.

"Just the one of you this time?"

"Only need me to make it clear to you that I'm not letting you off the hook," Gordon said, "I don't trust witches. You may have Ellen and Jo fooled, but I know you and your family are monsters. You'll turn evil, and reversing that magic of yours doesn't fool me. You still saved that cousin of yours somehow."

"You have no idea what really happened." Dean shook his head, looking into Gordon's dark brown eyes.

"I have an idea," Gordon smirked, "Watch your back, Dean. I will come after you."

"Gordon Walker?" A voice spoke from behind the two hunters. Gordon frowned, looking around at two men.

"Suppose I am?"

"He is." Jo piped up from behind the bar, making Dean smirk. She knew exactly what was happening here, seeing that it was Andy and Darryl standing in the bar.

Andy pulled his jacket to one side to show off his police badge, before Darryl pulled out cuffs, "Gordon Walker you're under arrest for the murder of Scott Casey..." He continued with the spiel he had to say, as Gordon attempted to fight his way out of the cuffs.

Dean couldn't help but look over to Jo with a confused frown. She smirked, as Andy and Darryl led the arrested hunter out of the bar, "It turns out he's wanted for murder in Illinois. Mom found out and tipped off Andy. I didn't know both of them knew you were a witch. I guessed Andy but Darryl?"

"He found out when the whole thing with Yellow-Eyes went down," Dean nodded, "Those charges gonna stick?"

"Definitely. He won't be telling hunters your secret any time soon," Jo smiled, "Couldn't do anything about Dan, though."

* * *

As for Dan, he sat at home watching the news about the removal of quarantine from P3x2, and how everyone had suddenly recovered. Deep down, he knew that witches were evil but Dean didn't have to reverse the magic. If he really wanted to kill innocents, he would have let his brother die. That could have even been a decoy, with Sam making it out.

Maybe there wasn't something completely evil about the Halliwells and Winchesters. After all, if Ellen Harvelle of all people trusted them, they must be good.

Upstairs in the house, Jenny sat at her desk to do her school work. It had been a long day, and she'd been worried about her neighbors. Something had drawn them to her when she had first moved into the house with her uncle. As she looked up through the window, she noticed the reflection of someone behind her. Frowning, Jenny turned around, grabbing the only thing she had as a weapon; her pen.

A man in his late 30s stood by the door, his eyes glowing yellow. Jenny's frown deepened, knowing that this was a demon. Her parents and uncle had taught her enough about them, "What do you want?"

"You." The man said before yellow smoke left his body and entered through Jenny's nose and mouth. There was nothing she could do, as the man's dead body now dropped to the floor with a thump.

"Jenny?" Dan's voice called out from downstairs, and he was up in a flash. The 16-year-old just tilted her head, watching as Dan forced his way into her bedroom and then looked down at the body, "What happened?"

"He just appeared," Jenny looked at him, fear in her eyes, "His eyes were black and then...he just...well...There was smoke and he disappeared."

Jenny just watched as Dan knelt down, pulling out his little flask of holy water. Spraying some of the water on the man, he sighed in relief to see that he was human. That was when he checked for a pulse. While this happened, he missed Jenny's eyes turn yellow, making it clear that she was now the demon.

 **Guest starring:**

Greg Vaughn as Dan Gordon

Stirling K. Brown as Gordon Walker

Dorian Gregory as Darryl Morris

Karis Paige Bryant as Jenny

Matthew Glave as Dr. Williamson

Brian Krause as Leo

Samantha Ferris as Ellen

Chad Lindberg as Ash

* * *

 **Please R &R**

 **I hope it's given you a good enough cliffhanger to keep you interested for the next half of the season. I'll be back with it as soon as I can. I can say that episode 12 will be a mixture of That Old Black Magic from Charmed and The Usual Suspects from Supernatural. I'll give a little spoiler...Dean isn't going to be the one arrested, but one of the other five will be...who could it be?  
**

 **I've actually noticed that a lot of the episodes have been focused on Dean too much. I'm going to try and change that continuing on from this.**


	12. Episode 12: Bewitched the Wedding

**Hi everyone, so after a long wait I'm here with the next chapter. For now, there will be one a week on a Thursday. That will last as long as possible but I'm not quite finished with the season and I don't know when I'm next going to get a chance to write. I want to think everyone who is still reading for sticking by this. I know delays suck but I never ever leave a story of my own unfinished.**

 **This episode is a mixture of Charmed's That Old Black Magic and SUpernatural's Usual Suspects.**

Episode 12: Bewitched the Wedding

Prue Halliwell couldn't believe just what she was hearing. Of all the things to go wrong tomorrow, she wasn't expecting this. Before she started shouting down the phone, she took a deep breath and asked her fiancé to clarify.

"What do you mean Adam and Sam won't be able to make it tomorrow?" The tone in her voice told Andy to answer very carefully. It also made Dean and Phoebe look up from their places on the couch with matching frowns.

" _Well, they're kind of in jail right now."_ Andy didn't really want to be the one to break the news, but neither of the Winchester brothers had asked to make their phone calls yet. He was surprised that Sam hadn't asked, but maybe it helped that Andy and Darryl had been the ones to arrest them.

"What the hell are they doing in jail, Andy?" Prue asked, looking directly at Dean. He jumped to his feet and tried to grab the phone from his shorter cousin, but she held him back with her powers. She wouldn't usually use her powers on one of her cousins, but she needed to hear everything from Andy first.

" _Well, they were sort of found at the scene of a crime Darryl and I were responding to,"_ Andy explained over the phone, nervous of everything he had to tell her, _"I can't really say more, but I wanted you to know that they're going to be in jail overnight, at least. I have no choice, Prue."_

"What do you mean, you have no choice?" Prue screeched.

" _I'm sorry, Prue."_

"Don't you dare…" Prue started, but heard the tell-tale silence on the other end to say that Andy had hung up the phone. Glancing at her cell phone, she saw the call had disconnected, "He hung up on me!"

"Why are Sam and Adam in jail?" Dean questioned, now out of Prue's telekinetic hold.

"They were at a scene of a crime," Prue shrugged her shoulders, "I don't believe this. You being in jail, Dean, I can understand and almost accept…"

"Hey!"

"But Sam and Adam?" Prue ignored Dean's protests, " _Sam_ in jail? What the hell were they up to?"

That was just what Andy and Darryl were trying to find out.

* * *

Andy walked back to the interrogation room with a cup of coffee in his hand. Seeing Darryl walk out of one of the rooms, Andy couldn't help but stop.

"Please tell me he said something."

"He's staying quiet right now," Darryl sighed, "I can't help him if he doesn't tell us why he was there. Did you call Prue?"

"I had to tell her, Darryl," Andy sighed, "I didn't give her time to call the wedding off tomorrow, but I know she will do. She won't want it without both her cousins there."

Darryl nodded his head, with a solemn look on his face. He hated this. Every part of his professional self, told him to take a step back from the case. The problem was he really wanted to help out the two Winchesters. He knew there had to be a magical reason for them to be in that house, but they—and he—couldn't prove it. All they could do was prove that Sam and Adam weren't the ones to kill the victim.

"Is that for Sam?" Darryl asked, motioning at the cup in Andy's hand.

Andy nodded, placing a hand on the door handle to the interrogation room, "I'm gonna see if I can just get him talking casually, before Sheridan ends up taking over."

"Yeah, I'm worried for them if that happens." Darryl sighed, before walking away. Andy made his way into the interrogation room, seeing Sam pacing by the window. Placing the cup of coffee on the table, Andy sat down and waited for Sam to stop.

"I thought you might be thirsty."

Sam just stopped pacing, looking out of the window, "You know we didn't do it, Andy."

"Sam, I want to help you but I can't just click my fingers and make everything Darryl and I saw go away. And we weren't alone. Maybe if we were…what were you going after?"

Sam looked around, as if checking to see if he was being taped. Andy smiled, and shook his head, "No camera in here. Adam's in the room with the camera. We can talk freely. What were you doing? Why was Adam at the Karen Giles murder scene? Just fill in all the missing pieces."

"I'm sure you can take a guess why he was there," Sam shrugged his shoulders, "How detailed do you want me to get?"

"So, it was a demon?"

"I…We're…Look, Dean and my cousins don't even know we were there." Sam sighed, turning a chair around to straddle it. He took a sip of the coffee, before rubbing his eyes tiredly, "We wanted to check what had happened to Karen's husband, Tony."

"He was found dead two days ago." Andy nodded his head, slowly. He'd been on that case, but nothing suggested that Sam or Adam had been there. Nothing suggested they needed to be there. Andy and Darryl had been certain that the wife was in on the whole thing, but now they weren't too sure about anything.

With a deep sigh, Sam looked into Andy's eyes, "I can only tell you as much as I know."

* * *

Ryan glanced up from the map in his hands, looking at a bush in front of him. At first he frowned, but then walked around the bush and grinned.

"That's gotta be it."

Brett followed his friend and then frowned at the small cave in front of him, "It looks kinda small to be a mine shaft, doesn't it?"

"Maybe it was bigger in the 1800s," Ryan shrugged his shoulders, before pointing back at the map, "X marks the spot. Let's check it out."

The two teenagers walked into the mine shaft, and were instantly greeted by the rotting bones of a person. Brett shuddered at the sight, "Definitely not a good sign."

Ryan rolled his eyes, just as a bat flew past them making him jump. Brett smirked, but still didn't feel that good about being in the cave. He hadn't wanted to come up here in the first place. Who knew what was hidden up in these caves and shafts; who knew what could happen. They hadn't even told anyone where they were going.

While Ryan mentioned something about gold, Brett spotted some old writing on one of the walls. They were in a foreign language, but clearly warning signs about something. They could have been about anything, and right now Brett's mind was on overdrive.

It didn't stop Ryan from pulling out a hammer and chisel, rolling his eyes at Brett's body language. Just as he started chiselling at the rock, it exploded. The two teens ducked for cover, as bits of rock flew everywhere. Dust surrounded the mine shaft, causing the two teenage boys to cough. As the dust cleared, they were finally able to look up to see someone else standing in front of them. At first, both thought they'd been caught by the police but then the realized that it was a woman.

Not just any woman, either. This woman looked like she didn't quite belong here. Her heavy green dress hung to the floor, her arms completely covered. She had a leather strap around her waist, and no shoes on her feet. Her fiery red hair hung loose over her shoulders. Around her neck was a moving, slithering snake.

"I'm free!" She said, before looking down at the two boys, "What year is this?"

"2016." Ryan nervously spoke, looking over to Brett for backup.

"Two hundred years?" the woman spoke, a mixture of shock and anger in her voice. She then held out her hand and looked around the ground, "My wand. Where is my wand?"

"Your what?" Brett asked, with a frown, earning the full wrath of the woman. When they didn't tell her what she wanted to hear, she reached into a small pouch on her leather belt and threw some dust on them. They shrunk before her very eyes, making her smile.

The red-head pulled her snake from around her neck, and then placed him on a rock next to her. The two teenagers tried to run away, but their smaller size made it much harder. The woman grabbed them, feeding them to her pet. Now it was time for her to find her wand.

* * *

Opening Credits

* * *

 _Two days earlier_

Adam read through the paper at the college campus, while Sam brought over two cups of coffee. They were really meeting to catch up. Apart from the odd weekend and holiday event, both brothers had hardly seen each other. They were too busy with school, internships and their love lives. Sam had finally agreed to asking Sarah out on another date, seeing that it was going well, and Adam was working on building the courage to ask one of the girls out on his course.

As Sam placed Adam's coffee on the table, the younger Winchester pushed the paper across, "Anthony Giles."

"Who's that?"

"I'm surprised you don't know. He's a lawyer in San Francisco," Adam didn't miss the shrug of Sam's shoulders, clearing thinking that he didn't know all the lawyers in the city, "Take a look. He was working late in his office."

Sam decided to entertain his younger brother. Usually it was Dean throwing this type of stuff his way, but Adam had really gotten into the researching and finding of magical problems now and then; more like finding innocents to save, "Throat was slit, room was clean. Andy and Darryl were on the case?"

"Yeah, guess they're not finished with it to let us in right now," Adam nodded, "But no DNA, no prints…now keep reading. It gets better."

Sam did as he was told and was surprised to see that there was security camera footage. There was no footage of the assailant, which could have meant that someone tampered with the tapes, but there was a reason Adam was showing him this.

"It's an invisible killer?" Sam questioned, making Adam nod with a grin.

"So, Scully, wanna check it out. Just you and me?"

"I'm not Scully, you're Scully." Sam frowned, making Adam chuckle.

"No, I'm Mulder. You're a red-headed woman." Adam laughed even harder when he saw bitch-face #324 appear on Sam's face, getting just the reaction he'd wanted.

Andy listened to the story intently, smirking at the idea of Sam being Scully. It was a conversation he could definitely see the two younger Winchester brothers having, after growing up so close. The problem was Sam wasn't giving him details. He needed to know how Karen ended up dead and why Adam was there.

Sam admitted to the detective that he and Adam had visited her as insurance company employees. It was something Karen had completely forgotten about, trying to deal with the death of her husband. For once, they'd decided on something that wasn't illegal; although it was immoral.

"If you could just tell us anything you remember about the night your husband died." Adam said to the woman, notepad out so he could take notes.

"Tony and I were just supposed to have dinner," Karen explained, wiping tears from underneath her black-rimmed glasses, "He called and said he was having computer troubles and that he had to work late. That was it."

"Do you have any idea who could have done this to him?" Sam asked, knowing that she could have easily wondered why insurance employees would need to know that part. That was something for the police. And of course, the police had already asked her these questions. What Sam and Adam hadn't realized was that Andy and Darryl had asked her these questions.

"Did Tony mention anything, you know, unusual to you? In the days before his death?" Adam treaded carefully, as he asked about weird noises or any visions he may have had. Sam cleared his through, glaring at his younger brother, just as Karen looked between the two brothers. The question had stirred something from her. She couldn't help but remember Tony saying he'd woken in the middle of the night to see a woman standing at the foot of their bed. Within a blink, she was gone. But they'd both put it down to a nightmare.

"Did he say what she looked like?" Adam pushed further.

"What the hell difference does it make?" Karen was clearly offended by the question, and Adam couldn't help but try to backtrack over it.

"It's just, uh, our, our company's very thorough." Adam tried, hoping that it would get her to talk.

Karen frowned, but nodded her head, "He said she was pale and she had dark red eyes."

Andy looked at Sam with a look that told him he wasn't amused. There was definitely something missing...something that involved them breaking into Tony's office. People had seen two men matching his and his brother's descriptions. Sam sighed, rubbing his eyes, "Okay, we wanted to see if there was anything, you know, unusual."

"And?" Andy asked, not entirely sure what he wanted the answer to be.

"There was...well, it was strange and even for us," Sam admitted with a nod of his head. He face scrunched up as he remembered the sheet of paper Adam had found, "Someone had printed 'Danashulps' all over a piece of paper. Just over and over again."

"Dana Shulps?" Andy asked, a frown forming. If Sam found it strange, it wasn't a good thing, "A name?"

"I wondered that, so I searched for it," Sam explained, but shook his head at the detective. There wasn't anyone anywhere with that name, "There wasn't even a D. Shulps in the paperwork, or anyone who lived or died in the area in the last 50 years."

"So, how did that lead to Adam being found at Karen's place and you being found in the library?" Andy now asked. Sam couldn't help but sigh, as he explained that Adam had grown bored of research and decided the source was probably the best place to get information from. Of course, that meant Karen.

"He didn't murder Karen, though," Sam shook his head, "I know it."

"I believe you, Sam," Andy nodded his head, "I'm trying to help here. But I can't just let you out to finish the job. Let me tell Dean and your cousins. Maybe they can..."

"Just..." Sam sighed, knowing that he'd get an earful as soon as he got home, "Maybe keep it from Prue if you can."

Andy sighed, knowing he'd already told his fiancée, not really having a choice. For now, Sam had no idea, though, and it could stay that way. With a nod of his head, Andy left the interrogation room and walked down the hallway. There was a phone call he needed to make.

* * *

What Andy hadn't realized was that a strange white lighter had shown up at the Halliwell-Winchester Manor. He wore a mustard-colored trench coat, with a suit that was slightly too big for him, and his hair stood out all over the place; almost as if he was an overworked tax accountant.

"Castiel?" Leo asked, frowning as he stepped towards the white lighter. Phoebe and Piper just watched with raised eyebrows, as Castiel was clearly taken aback at Leo being in the house, "What brings you here? Wait, why would you be here? Is it for me?"

"I had no idea you were here, Leo," Castiel shook his head, before glancing across at the two witches, "Where is your sister and your cousins?"

"Now's not really a good time," Phoebe shook her head, "Who are you?"

"I am Castiel," the man said, no hint of emotion behind his voice, "That is all you need to know."

"You're a white lighter." Piper pointed out, and Castiel was clearly annoyed. Glancing at Leo, there was a mutter of how Leo should never have told them about their world, but Leo chose to role his eyes instead.

Turning around to face the two Halliwell sisters, Leo explained who the newcomer was, "Castiel is one of the more senior white lighters. He's been a white lighter for as long as most can remember. You can trust him."

"No offense, but I don't trust people I don't know," Piper said, crossing her arms, "But what do you want? Maybe we can help if innocents are in danger."

"Innocents are in danger," Castiel nodded his head, "The worst thing imaginable happened last night."

"The worst thing imaginable and we're just hearing about it now?" Phoebe asked, a smirk forming on her lips, "Talk about great time management."

"Phoebe..." Leo warned his former charge, before turning back to Castiel. He had an idea what the white lighter had meant, but needed to hear it straight from his mouth.

"Where is Prue and your cousins?" Castiel repeated.

"You just have us right now," Piper folded her arms, waiting impatiently for the white lighter to tell her the news. It wasn't that she hated these magical beings, she was just annoyed that Leo had lost his wings—even temporarily—because he chose to save her life; to save the Charmed Ones. She didn't hate the beings, but wasn't happy with them, "So, tell us what it is."

"You have to come with me."

Phoebe shook her head, making it clear that this Castiel person needed to tell them what it was right now. They weren't going anywhere with someone they'd only just met.

Castiel sighed, his patience running thin. His own charges were never any bother like this. Mind you, his own charges had no idea who he really was. He'd built relationships with them; and not the type that would get him suspended. Leo had really caused a problem with the Charmed Ones finding out who and what he was.

"Two hundred years ago, a good witch turned evil and started using her craft against innocents," Castiel explained, glancing at Leo, knowing that he would know the true danger now, "Fortunately she was tricked in a cave and entombed. This morning, Tuatha escaped."

"Tuatha?" Phoebe raised her eyebrows, "Who wouldn't go bad with a name like that?"

"So, you want us to find her and vanquish her?" Piper asked, shrugging her shoulders, "We can do that while Dean and Prue help get Sam and Adam out of jail."

"You cannot just vanquish her." Castiel shook his head, but the sisters had already started walking up to the attic to do some research on the witch. It was Leo who had to call them back down.

"This is a big deal. A witch can't vanquish her and she kills good witches." Leo explained, his expression showing just how grave the situation was.

"There is only one person who can defeat her. He is known as the Chosen One." Castiel explained, hoping not to have to get into a long explanation of how he was created. There were questions about if this Chosen One was a witch, but that was all. It was clear that they just wanted to get on with the job and protect innocents. That was one thing Castiel respected about the Halliwells and Winchesters; their aim was always to protect innocents.

"You'll need to protect the Chosen One from Tuatha," Leo explained to the sisters, "He needs to use her wand against her. It shouldn't take too long for the wand to come to him, and the law has it that once she's free it will find him. But there is the risk of her finding the wand first."

"What does that mean?" Phoebe asked, now looking between the two white lighters. Castiel and Leo looked at each other, before Castiel finally sighed. Turning his attention to Phoebe, the grave look said everything, "She'll kill the Chosen One, right?"

When Castiel nodded his head, Piper swallowed hard, "And then she'll come after us."

This really was the worst thing imaginable, and they were already at least two witches down. It wasn't like Dean was going to want to help innocents when his brothers were in jail, either. Really, it was up to the two of them and Prue.

* * *

Dean and Prue had made it to the police station as soon as they could the next morning. Waiting on the wooden bench for Andy, Prue tapped her foot angrily. Dean paced the floor in front of her, stressing about the fact that both his brothers were being held by the police. Could they even hold them? Would Andy keep them there? Surely Andy knew that if they were around a dead body there was a genuine reason for it; and it wasn't that either of them had killed someone.

Plenty of questions ran through his mind right now. Stopping in his tracks, he turned to Prue to sound off, "Why the hell didn't they say they had a case? That they had an innocent? Why would they go up against it alone?"

"Maybe because they knew I'd go crazy at them for going off to take care of it," Prue suggested, running her hand through her hair, "I mean, my wedding is supposed to be today. Andy is supposed to have the day off for it and he's stuck in there with your damned brothers."

"You'd have left innocents for your wedding day?" Dean asked, eyebrows raised in shock. Had his cousin really decided to put herself first? When she sighed, shaking her head, he had to smile. Prue wanted to believe that she could put her own wants and needs first, but it would never happen. She'd never grown up that way.

"Hey, what are you two doing here?" Darryl's voice called out to them down the hallway. The two witches looked over, with Prue instantly jumping up from the bench.

"Please tell me you can get them out." Prue said with a sigh. While she'd have preferred to see Andy, seeing Darryl was at least helpful. Him knowing about magic and their secret had really helped them recently.

Unfortunately, there was nothing Darryl could do. His disappointed shake of the head told both witches that, and Dean couldn't help but take out his frustration on the wall beside them.

"Dean…" Darryl said, but didn't continue the sentence. What was the point?

"What are they facing?" Prue now asked, taking Dean's arm to try and keep him calm. She could only guess how she would feel if both her sisters had been locked up for something she knew they hadn't done.

"Sam won't be too bad," Darryl explained, "But Adam…he was found at the crime scene, covered in the victim's blood. I'm…I'm not sure if we can do anything for him now. Andy and I are being taken off the case because of our connection to Sam and Adam."

"Who's taking it over?" Dean now asked, worry in his green eyes. That couldn't be good news. It soon turned out that it was the worst news, because the person taking it over was someone known for his ruthless tactics.

* * *

Inspector Sheridan had taken over the case, and it definitely wasn't good for Adam. However, the younger Winchester brother had taken a leaf out of his big brother's book. Dean had used his cocky, arrogant attitude enough to talk his way out of trouble, and Adam was going to try it now. If he was honest, his own safety wasn't something he worried about. He was more concerned that there was some sort of vengeful spirit out there. And to make matters worse, he had no way of getting news to Dean and his cousins.

It had led to Inspector Sheridan watching Adam from the observation room. Adam couldn't see him, but Sheridan watched as Adam seemed to think his way through things. Maybe he was planning ways of getting out of this, or trying to work out who was really at fault.

"You getting anywhere with him?" A female inspector asked, walking into the observation room. Sheridan turned, shaking his head at his partner. Inspector Ballard was the good cop in their duo, and had taken over from Andy to find out what Sam knew.

"Just a lot of wise-ass remarks," Sheridan admitted, "You?"

"The stories match to the last detail," Ballard explained, relying the story she'd been told by the taller Winchester brother about how their father had known Tony Giles and they'd visited Karen to offer their condolences. The whole reason they'd gone to Tony's office was to pick up personal items that Karen had wanted. She wasn't sure if that was the same thing Sam and Andy had been talking about, and Ballard was certain there was something missing. This was why Inspector Trudeau had been taken off the case; he was too friendly with the suspects.

"These guys are good." Sheridan sighed, shaking his head. He knew that what they had wasn't going to be enough to hold Sam. Ballard couldn't help but point out that they only had circumstantial evidence for both brothers. The blood on Adam could have been because—as he said—he'd gone back to Karen and found her like that. He was checking for a pulse before ringing 911. Juries had convicted for less than that, so there was some hope.

"Where's the murder weapon?" Ballard now asked, "What's the motive? You talk about reasonable doubt…"

"Diana," Sheridan turned to face his partner, gently and lovingly placing his hand on her cheek, "Do you have reasonable doubt? One of these guys will tumble. They're just college kids."

"Sam's a law student." Diana pointed out.

"And he won't want to risk his career for his murderer brother," Sheridan explained, "You know, it's a shame it wasn't the eldest Winchester found at the crime scene…that Dean guy. I mean, he was connected to those crimes in St. Louis."

"You want to pin the murder on an innocent person now?" Diana asked, shocked that her partner would suggest something like this. Sheridan shook his head with a frustrated sigh. He just wanted to get to the end of this.

"I know Tony was your friend and you wanna clean this mess up quick, but come on," Diana sighed, grabbing his hand, "Tony knew a lot of criminal types. I mean, maybe we're just…"

"Criminal types? He was a defense lawyer!" the male inspector pulled away from his partner. It was obvious he would know criminal types, but that didn't mean the man—no, more like boy—they had in custody wasn't the murderer.

"Well, let's get back at 'em." Diana suggested, but Sheridan had another plan. He wanted them to stew in their juices. That would get one of them talking.

It took a while, though. Both brothers were still trying to work out the name Dana Shulps, knowing that it meant something. While Adam muttered the name to himself over and over again, Sam had pulled out a piece of paper to write the name down. Staring at the name, he frowned with the pen to his lips.

The two Winchesters seemed to work out the conundrum at the same time. Maybe it wasn't a name after all. Maybe it was an anagram.

A knock on the interrogation room caught Adam's attention. He looked up to see a middle-aged, bumbling man with a smile on his face walk into the room.

"Mr. Winchester?"

"Yeah?" Adam asked, knowing exactly who this would be. It was his defense lawyer. Sam would have a field day if he could see the type of lawyer the public defender's office was sending, "Oh, thank God I'm saved." Adam couldn't help but mutter to himself as Jeffrey Krause sat on the other side of the table.

"So…"

"Hey, could I, uh, borrow a pen from you? And some paper?" Adam asked, hoping that writing out the letters would help him work out this anagram. Taken aback, Krause took a pen out of his pocket and some paper out of his worn, brown leather briefcase. Adam instantly went to work, while Jeffrey explained that without the murder weapon, it would be a little harder to pin the murder on him. The issue was the blood literally on his hands.

Adam ignored the lawyer, jotting down various phrases, "Mr. Winchester, what are you doing?"

"I think it's an anagram." Adam told the lawyer, knowing that he wasn't making much sense. That didn't matter. He'd make sense to his brothers and cousins.

Looking down at his handiwork, Adam looked through all the different works. Showing them to Jeffrey, he asked for his opinion. Did any of them make any sense, because they didn't to him.

"Do you understand how serious these charges are?" Jeffrey couldn't believe what he was hearing. He'd heard rumors that the Winchesters had been involved in some creepy cases over the last year, along with their Halliwell cousins, but he'd hoped this wasn't one of them. If he was honest, he hadn't wanted to take this on but his boss had made him. At least it wasn't the eldest brother.

"I'm handcuffed to a table. Yeah, I get it," Adam held up his hand, as if to point out that he couldn't move very far. Darryl had already explained that this was something they did with all murder suspects, "Humor me. Take a quick look. Are there any names, locations, anything that you recognize on that list?"

Jeffrey took the paper from his new pro bono client and then frowned. There was one on there that made some sense. Taking out the first three letters, he pointed out that Ashland was a street name on the other side of the city. Adam groaned, nodding his head. Of course it was. It was a bad part of town.

"Let's start with where you were the night Anthony Giles died." Jeffrey said, now happy that he'd placated his client. Adam still wasn't interested though, and was now writing something on a piece of paper.

"Can you get in to see my brother? Maybe even talk to Andy Trudeau or Darryl Morris?"

"Mr. Winchester, you could be facing life imprisonment here."

"Hey, thanks for the law review, Matlock," Adam sighed, frustrated with the man in front of him. That wasn't something he cared too much about right now, "If you really want to help me," Adam folded a note and handed it to the lawyer, "I need you to see my brother or one of the inspectors who brought us in."

The lawyer stepped out of the room and made his way towards the questioning room that Sam was being held in. On the way, he passed Inspector Darryl Morris and started to wonder whether he would be more help. Against his better judgment, he stopped the inspector, who was talking to a man and woman.

"Inspector Morris?" Jeffrey asked, "I'm sorry to interrupt."

"Can I help you?" Darryl asked, uncertain of who the man was in front of him.

"I've…can we talk in private please. I've just come from Mr. Winchester…"

"Winchester? Which one?" Dean asked, stepping forward, "They're my brothers."

"You're Dean," Jeffrey didn't ask a question. Just looking at him and seeing the worry in his green eyes told him everything he knew. When Dean nodded, Jeffrey handed him the note that Adam had written. Surely it would make sense to him, too, "I hope it makes more sense to you than it does to me."

Dean looked down at the note and smiled with a nod, "Thanks."

Once he was done, Jeffrey needed to get to Sam Winchester. If Adam wouldn't talk about the case, maybe Sam would. However, as he was on his way, Diana Ballard walked past them.

"Mr. Krause, we need you back in the interrogation room now, please."

"What's going on?" Prue now asked, joining her cousin.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Krause we need you now."

* * *

While there wasn't much good news for the Winchesters, there was some good news for the two Halliwell sisters trying to find the Chosen One. They didn't really need to look hard, because Castiel already knew who the boy was. That was where the problem was…the Chosen One was just a boy. He couldn't have been more than 16.

It didn't help that Piper and Phoebe still didn't really trust Castiel. He was too strict, nothing like Leo. There was no joking around with him, almost as if he'd forgotten how to be human. Leo had said that all white lighters had once been mortal people who'd died, but Castiel seemed more like a robot. Had he really been a white lighter for that long?

"Leo, he's a nerd!" Phoebe couldn't help but point out as she watched a blond-haired boy have his books knocked from his hands.

"I didn't choose him," Leo explained, trying to ease some tension between the sisters and Castiel, "All we care about is that he can help save your lives."

"He's a teenager," Piper shook her head, refusing to put a child in danger, "Tuatha will destroy him."

"He will find the wand and learn how to use it," Castiel said, as if there was no danger in the plan, "Tuatha will know that he is the Chosen One and will destroy him if you do not help him."

Piper still didn't feel comfortable, now watching the teenager practice magic tricks after picking up his books. It was clear that he hardly had any friends.

"I did not expect you, your sister and your cousins to be the Charmed Ones." Castiel now pointed out. He had expected six cousins with experience in handling the craft, and definitely not a line mixed with the blood of hunters.

With a reluctant sigh, Piper turned to Leo, "What's his name?"

"Kyle. Kyle Gwydien."

"And does he know?" Phoebe now asked, sighing when she watched the white lighter and her former white lighter shake their heads. Biting her bottom lip, she looked over to her sister. How were they going to break the news to him that he needed to defeat the most powerful evil witch in the world?

"I guess we better show him our powers, first." Piper sighed, grabbing her sister and walking down the footpath to the school. Kyle was just walking towards them, when Phoebe stopped him.

"Do I know you?"

"Not yet," Phoebe smiled, wishing that Adam was here to do this. Even having Aviva around would have been helpful, "You'll know the both of us eventually."

"I think you might have me confused with someone else." The boy said, passing the two sisters and walking down the footpath. Phoebe decided to jump straight into telling him that he was the Chosen One, hoping that it would be enough to get him to stop. It didn't help that they knew the clock was ticking.

Kyle had stopped, but soon walked away again when the sisters started talking about magic—real magic. He had enough of people making fun of him at school.

Piper knew that she needed to show him her powers, and quickly got Kyle's attention. As he turned, she flicked her wrists, freezing him and everyone else within the circle of her powers, including Leo and Castiel. Phoebe quickly rushed around to stand behind Kyle, and Piper flicked her wrists again. People moved around as if nothing had happened. Only, Kyle realized that Phoebe was no longer standing with her sister.

"Behind you." Phoebe smirked, making Kyle jump. He looked between the two sisters, seeing Piper join him and Phoebe.

"How did you do that?" Kyle asked, gobsmacked at the events.

"Magic," Phoebe grinned excitedly. She loved being able to share this side of her, "Wanna know more?"

* * *

Back at the police station, Dean and Prue knew that there was very little they could do. At the same time, the Halliwell sisters had finally managed to call Prue about their magical issue.

"We need to split up," Dean sighed, looking over at his cousin, "You take care of this Chosen One and I'll deal with this Ashland place. I'm hoping that getting there will tell me more."

"There's some good news," Andy jogged up to the two witches and his partner, "Sam's being released."

"Sam? That's great."

"Yeah, they've decided they don't have enough evidence to hold him," Andy explained, but there was a grave look on his face, "I've heard Adam is confessing, though."

"What!"

* * *

That was the reason the female inspector had needed the lawyer. Adam had made the decision to confess to something, and a video camera was being set up to allow for this to happen. Jeffrey Krause had been shocked to hear what was going on when he walked in, and instantly pleaded with his client, "Mr. Winchester? I'd advise against this strongly."

"Talk directly into the camera, stating your name for the record." Inspector Sheridan ignored the lawyer, and looked directly at the 20-year-old.

Adam continued the arrogance as he looked in the camera with a smirk, "My name is Adam Winchester. I'm a Libra. I enjoy sunsets, long walks on the beach, and beautiful women. And I did not kill anyone. But I know who did. Or rather what did," he was really testing things by doing this, but he needed to get the police on his side. Part of him hoped that Darryl or Andy were in the observation room opposite them, "Of course, it can't be for sure, because our investigation was interrupted. But our working theory was that we're looking for some kind of vengeful spirit."

"Excuse me?" Inspector Ballard questioned, shock and confusion on her face. Adam couldn't help but look up at her and mention Casper the bloodthirsty ghost.

The spectators in the observation room couldn't help but laugh. Some of them had heard about some of the unusual cases Andy and Darryl had worked on, with the Halliwells and Winchesters getting in the way. Just as they were laughing, Darryl stepped into the room to see how the case was going. One of the spectators looked at him, smirking, "Guess he's just as crazy as we thought."

"He confessed?"

"Oh, better than that," the spectator said, "I think he's aiming for an insanity plea. Keeps talking about vengeful spirits."

Darryl frowned, but remained in the room to watch the rest of this 'confession'.

"Tony Giles saw it and I'll bet you anything Karen did, too," Adam explained to the camera, "But see, the interesting thing is the word it leaves behind. For some reason it's trying to tell us something. But communicating across the vale isn't always easy. I know from experience, although my brother understands this more. Spirits sometimes get things jumbled. I'm sure you know the reasoning behind "REDRUM," Adam looked around, seeing some understanding on faces, but maybe just at the use of such a popular term. He didn't care, though, and continued, "This time it's an anagram. We thought this was a name, at first. Dana Shulps was written everywhere, but now I'm not too sure. I think it's Ashland. I bet whatever it is started there."

Adam grinned at Inspector Sheridan, who rushed over to Adam and grabbed him by the collar. Adam couldn't do anything as he was pushed up against the wall, but he wasn't going to fight back anyway.

"Pete, that's enough!" Diana quickly rushed over to her partner, hearing Adam mumble something about asking for the truth. She frowned, as Sheridan told another police officer to lock him up. He was going to deal with something else.

For Diana, the name Dana Shulps had worried her. She hadn't told anyone but earlier that day the name had popped up on her computer screen over and over again. If Adam was telling the truth, it could mean that she was next. Rather than telling anyone, though, she made her way to the bathroom. Washing her face could help wake her from this nightmare. How Trudeau and Morris had dealt with these strange cases in the past she'd never know.

As she leaned forward on the sink, she looked at herself through the mirror. Suddenly, the sink in front of her turned on without her even pushing the button. Recoiling, she worried even more when the other taps turned on, too. Steam from the hot taps clouded the mirror, and _Danashulps_ appeared slowly.

Looking around, Diana looked for any sign that she was being set up by something. She knew Sam had been released. Maybe he'd decided to help his brother's crazy idea that Casper was killing people.

Suddenly, a woman with dirty, greasy blonde hair appeared in front of her. Diana screamed, looking at the woman who was trying to say something to her. Around her neck was a deep slash, and her eyes were bright red. But just as quickly as she appeared, the woman disappeared in front of Diana's very eyes. Now she really knew she needed help, and there was only a select few people who would be able to offer that.

* * *

While Dean waited for Sam to be released, Andy had decided to drive Prue home. It wasn't like they could do much, and Darryl had text to say that Adam hadn't really confessed, but had told them all about the vengeful spirit and the anagram. The note now made more sense to Dean, as he realized his brother had obviously come across a word and was now sharing what it really meant. Once Sam got out, they'd be able to handle the rest of it.

For Prue, she was more and more certain that her wedding day was completely ruined. Despite it being an small gathering in the afternoon, it was now 10am and they were starting to run out of time.

"I still didn't pick up something from work," Prue groaned, as she thought about the wedding, "Can you drop me off there first?"

"Want me to come in with you?" Andy asked, but Prue shook her head. He'd felt guilty for all this happening. If Andy and Darryl hadn't been joined by other police officers at the time of getting to the house, they wouldn't have bothered arresting Adam. Sam wouldn't have been found at the library, because there wouldn't have been a connection to him and the Giles residence. He'd really wished they'd gone in alone, now.

"We'll still get married today, Prue." Andy told his fiancée, sensing the doubt from her. Prue shook her head, disappointment in her eyes.

"I'm not getting married without all my cousins there. I refuse to do it, Andy." With that, she got out of the car and made her way to the office. It was a good job that she was there. Just as she was walking past the unusually empty waiting room, she heard a scream. Looking across, she saw an elderly woman pointing at a snake, asking desperately for help. A red-haired woman in a long, old-fashioned green dress stood in front of her, holding onto what looked like a wand with a glowing amber jewel on the top.

"Who are you?" The elderly woman looked up at the woman. She just grinned evilly, waving the wand to make the woman just disappear. With a wave of Prue's hand, the red-head flew backwards, slamming against a wall. The wand fell out of her hands, and Prue used her powers to grab it, before rushing out of the office.

"Prue?" Sarah's voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Sarah, you need to get out of here, now," Prue explained to the young girl, "Whatever you do, stay away from the red-head in the waiting room."

With no time to explain any more, Prue rushed out of the building and straight to Andy's waiting car. He looked at her, wondering why she needed to grab something that looked like a wand. After everything that had happened in the office, Prue had forgotten about the items she needed to grab from work. All she knew was that she needed to get this wand back to her sisters.

* * *

It hadn't been easy to explain magic and being the Chosen One to Kyle. Like the sisters had initially expected, he didn't want to believe them. Sure, seeing the proof meant that magic was real and the sister were witches, but that didn't mean he was the Chosen One. That was something he definitely refused to believe.

How could someone like him be the Chosen One? He was a loner—the one person that bullies picked on. Every day involved avoiding those more likely to beat him up, so he didn't have to lie to his worried single-mom anymore.

"You're the only one who can stop Tuatha." Castiel said in a matter-of-fact way, earning a glare from the two Halliwell sisters.

"That doesn't help," Piper informed him, before turning back to the teenager, "Look, I know that this is a lot for you to take in and your first instinct is to resist it. That's how I felt when I got my powers, and sometimes I still do."

"You should talk to our cousin Dean for resisting." Phoebe smirked. Piper chuckled, but continued with her attempt to help the young boy.

"We've learned that you cannot fight your destiny. It's like fighting who you are, who you're meant to be."

"And your destiny is to vanquish the evil witch, Tuatha." Leo joined in, hoping to ease the boy's fears.

Kyle shook his head, looking between the four adults. His brothers had to have put them up to it. They liked to play practical jokes on him. After all, he was easy pickings. Refusing to listen, Kyle got up and made his way to the door.

He would have left had Prue not walked through the door with Andy just at that time. As Piper shouted to stop him, the wand in Prue's hand started to flow.

"That is the wand." Castiel said, seeing that it instantly recognized the Chosen One. Prue just looked between her sisters, Leo and the newcomers, holding the wand up and waving it.

"Where did you get that?" Phoebe asked, rushing over to her sister, but Prue wasn't in the mood to entertain guests. As she tried to get rid of the two people she knew, Phoebe insisted that Kyle held onto the wand. Deciding not to argue, she held out the wand and allowed Kyle to grab it.

"Go ahead, it won't hurt you." Leo assured the boy, encouraging him to grab the item. As soon as he did, the amber jewel glowed again, making Leo and Castiel both smile. Prue watched with awe, as Piper and Phoebe weren't sure whether this was going to be a good or bad thing. It now meant that he was in more danger.

"I erm…maybe we should take this to the attic." Prue suggested, not giving anyone a chance by making her way up the stairs. Andy glanced at Leo, before following his fiancée up the stairs.

"Kyle," Piper turned to the boy, "Why don't you go to the kitchen and help yourself to whatever you want. That's if you're staying."

"I'm staying," Kyle nodded his head, "But I don't know how long for."

That was good enough for the Charmed sisters, as they made their way up the stairs with their sister and future brother-in-law.

Prue clearly wasn't willing to let a boy go up against the evil witch she had just faced. While Leo and Castiel argued that she needed to, Prue told her sisters what she'd seen—how the woman had literally just disappeared with a wave of the wand.

"It is his destiny to defeat Tuatha." Castiel said, his voice deep and almost threatening. Prue glared at the newcomer, shaking her head in disgust.

"I don't know who you are or what you have to do with this, but I refuse to let this happen," she told him, "What right do you have to dictate the destiny of a 16-year-old."

"I am a white lighter," Castiel said, clearly annoyed that Prue was even questioning him, "This is his destiny and he must follow it. If he does not, Tuatha will win and the world will be destroyed. The Founders need him to…"

"We can deal with it," Prue shook her head, "We're the Charmed Ones. If he had to do it, why did I get the wand?"

"So it would get to Kyle," Leo explained. He hated having to ask this of a boy, but it was necessary, "It's part of the law. If you guys were meant to defeat Tuatha, there would be a spell in the Book of Shadows."

"There isn't," Piper sighed, "We checked."

Prue sighed, running her hand through her hair. Andy looked up at Leo, a worried look in his brown eyes, "I know you've never guided them down the wrong path before, Leo, but is this really wise? Why not let them go up against this Tuatha witch, and then if they fail then they can turn to Kyle and help him?"

"That is not the way." Castiel argued.

"Why are you still here?" Phoebe now turned on the white lighter, who hadn't been that helpful when it came to this problem. Go back to your Founders and tell them we'll do this our way.

Castiel frowned, but knew when he was not wanted. He would return when they were open to be guided. With a flash of blue and white lights, Castiel was gone, leaving the core group of members in the attic. They felt a little easier without the strict newcomer in the house now, but there was still the heavy weight of this evil witch coming to attack.

"If you go up against Tuatha, she will kill you." Leo sighed, realizing that Andy still wanted an answer to his question.

Prue chuckled at the idea, "We'll find Tuatha before she finds us." Prue walked towards the attic door, followed by Phoebe. They both realized that Piper was not with them, so turned back to face her, "Piper?"

Piper glanced at Leo first, before finally joining her sisters and heading back down to the kitchen. Leo couldn't help but turn to face Andy, "This is too dangerous."

"I've learned you sometimes just have to let them do it their way, first."

* * *

Jenny had watched Prue and Andy walk into the house, instantly recognizing the wand in her hand. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. Tuatha had clearly been released if they had that wand now. She hadn't missed the blond-haired boy being ushered into the house earlier. He had to be the Chosen One.

Looking in the mirror, she watched her yellow eyes disappear. The more she looked like the 16-year-old niece of Dan Gordon, the easier it would be to find out more and lead Tuatha to the Halliwell sisters. Even if the Winchesters weren't there, getting rid of three witches would be enough right now. Once happy, she made her way down the stairs of her house and out the back door. The best way into the house would be through the back door, which never tended to get locked during the day.

"Hey, who are you?" Jenny asked, instantly seeing the blond-haired boy in the kitchen on his own. He held the wand of Tuatha, looking at it as if it was going to do something strange and magical.

"Apparently I'm the Chosen One." Kyle said, without really thinking. It was just what Jenny needed to hear, and she couldn't help but grin.

"I haven't see you around before. What's your name?" Jenny now asked, trying to get as much information as possible. It was clear the boy wasn't used to people talking to him, because he just kept giving one-word answers. As they talked, the wand suddenly started spinning on the spot. Kyle had no idea how he was doing it, but he definitely found it cool.

Prue walked in to the kitchen to see the wand spinning and Jenny in the room. She instantly glared at the 16-year-old girl, "Jenny, you shouldn't be here."

"Okay, I can take a hint," Jenny held her hands up in defense, looking around to see Piper just behind Prue, "My Uncle Dan would like to talk to you."

"I've got nothing to say to him." Piper said, making it clear that Jenny wasn't welcome here right now—if ever. Once Jenny was gone, Phoebe looked at Kyle with a smirk, "Still think you're not the Chosen One?"

* * *

Back at the station, Diana had located Dean Winchester, who was still waiting for Sam to be released. He waited alone, and Diana knew that this was probably the best time to talk to him about what she'd seen. There was no way of getting in to see Adam without eyes on her.

"Dean?" Diana asked, "I'm Inspector Ballard and I was wondering if we could speak."

"I'm waiting for my brother, right now." Dean shook his head, making it clear that he wasn't interested in speaking to anybody. The inspector knew she would have to try a little harder.

"Adam mentioned something about an anagram. I think I saw it," she said, "And the spirit."

Dean frowned, but it didn't last long. Instead, it was shockingly replaced with wide grin, "Sammy!" Diana looked around as Dean rushed past her, seeing the two brothers embrace in a manly hug. Darryl stood just behind them, smiling at the fact that one of them had been released at least.

Sam Winchester had instantly noticed that Diana was standing with his brother when he turned the corner. Curiosity getting the better of him, he couldn't help but look at her, "What are you doing with my brother?"

"I was…well, I was actually looking for help," Diana explained, looking between the three men, "I think I saw the spirit."

Sam looked directly at Dean, fear clearly in his brown eyes. Dean sighed deeply, understanding what his brother wanted without even saying anything. Nodding his head, he looked at the inspector, "Okay, we need to know everything. And Sammy, I need to know everything you and Adam know."

"Maybe I should show you these, too." Diana said, holding out her wrists. Dean and Sam couldn't help but frown at the red marks, unmistakeable from some sort of bindings. Darryl recognized them too, instantly frowning.

"When did they appear?"

"After I saw it," Diana said, "You guys aren't crazy, are you?"

"Oh princess, those who don't believe this stuff are crazy." Dean chuckled with a roll of his eyes.

There wasn't much time to go through things at the police station. Both Winchesters needed to work on helping their little brother get out of jail, and they needed to take care of the spirit going after its victims. Sam was certain that Diana had become the next target, and they needed to do something to keep her safe.

"We need to work out who the spirit is," Dean sighed, "Any idea of people who have gone missing or died from Ashland Street?" The list would be long, but Darryl had already been doing some research. Motioning for everyone to follow him to his desk, he showed a stack of crime scene photos he'd found. If Diana had seen the spirit, she may recognize one of them in the list. It didn't take long for Diana to spot one that looked a lot like the ghost she'd seen. Pulling it out, the three men looked over her shoulders.

"Claire Becker?" Sam frowned, "Disappeared about eight or nine months ago."

"I don't know her, though." Diana shook her head, trying to understand why this ghost would come after her.

As Dean read through the arrest record, something stood out, "Did you ever work in narcotics?"

"Before homicide, with Pete," Diana nodded, but she couldn't remember ever arresting her. It definitely seemed like the spirit though, matching the description except the red eyes; that had to be from her death, though.

"Says here she was last seen at 2911 Ashland Street," Darryl said, "I guess that's where we start, right? Maybe her body is there."

"Why would you need the body?" Diana asked, making Dean smirk.

"Need to put her to rest," he said, "Only way to do that is to salt and burn her bones."

* * *

As difficult as it was for Diana to initially believe in ghosts, more of this all seemed to add up. It was clear now how someone could get into a house or office, murder someone and not leave a trace of them. Dean had even explained how ghosts could use their magic to cause harm to people; there was no need for weapons.

Once they got to Ashland Street, they split up to search for the bones. However, Diana had no idea what she was looking for. It was only when she saw Claire's ghost again that she screamed for help. The ghost got closer to her, reaching her hand out, as she tried to say something. The brothers and Darryl got there but it was too late. Just as they ran into the room, the spirit disappeared, leaving Diana alone.

"Did she attack you?" Sam asked, concern filling his eyes. Diana shook her head. At no point did she feel threatened. It was like the woman needed to reach out to someone; wanted to tell her something. The idea of it had Darryl looking over at the window.

"Hey, can one of you help me move this?" Darryl said, rushing over to the window. Dean joined him, helping him move a shelving unit away from the dirty window. Labelling from the outside was visible, but it made no sense right now. It was only when they looked over at the wall and saw the reflected letters that they all understood more.

"Ashland Sup…" Dean chuckled.

"Our mystery word," Sam shook his head, eyes wide, "The extra letters finally make sense."

Dean wasn't in the mood to try and understand a spirit's confusion. Instead, he pulled his EMF reader from his jacket pocket and rushed over to the wall with the reflected letters.

"What is that?" Diana asked, looking between Sam and Darryl. The black inspector shook his head with a small smile, "Trust me, you don't really want to understand this."

A purring noise from the reader made Dean smile. It looked like this was where the body would be. Knocking a small hole in the wall with a small sledgehammer he found in the abandoned building. Once a small hole had formed, Dean shone a flashlight into the gap and nodded. There was definitely something in there.

It didn't take long for the group of them to pull the wall out, as Sam commented on how something still bothered him, "No vengeful spirit has ever wanted to be wasted, Dean."

"I know," Dean frowned, "I don't get why this one wants to be. It's not making much sense. Are you sure you and Adam got this right?"

Sam rolled his eyes at his brother's doubt, and then pulled a shroud-wrapped body from the larger hole in the wall. Placing it on the ground, he pulled out his pocket knife and cut the ropes binding the body in the bag. It was only then that they were able to unravel the fabric and see the body.

"Her wrists," Diana pointed out, holding out her wrists, "They're bound."

"They'd be bruised just like yours." Darryl agreed, as the Winchester brothers examined the corpse. Diana was the one that spotted Claire's necklace, touching it cautiously.

"Does that mean something to you?" Sam asked, seeing the sad frown on her face. With a nod, Diana pulled out the same necklace from under her own shirt. It was one Pete had given to her, and was supposed to be one of a kind.

* * *

Phoebe turned the pages of the Book of Shadows, her sisters watching intently. She knew that the spell was in here somewhere, she just had to remember where she saw it. Finally coming across it, she grinned and tapped the page in the book with her index finger, "Here it is. The scrying spell."

"Scrying? What's that?" Piper asked, looking at Prue for answers, but she had no idea. It was up to Phoebe to explain how scrying would help them magically find a someone or something. It didn't need much; just a map, piece of string and crystal. They had all three in the house right now.

While they did that, Tuatha had come across a loan hiker, lost in the woods on his third day. He was clearly scared, and her appearance scared him even more. She couldn't help but smile at his nervousness as she stepped towards him. As he spoke about some Blair Witch documentary, Tuatha threw some of her golden magical dust at him, hitting his chest. She then reached into his chest, grabbing his heart.

The hiker's eyes grew wide, pain burning through his chest and into his left arm. Tuatha just tilted her head to one side, looking into his blue eyes, "You know it takes 15-20 seconds for a person to die after their heart has been damaged? And since that time is almost up, from the bottom of my heart I thank you."

Tuatha looked down at her hand, as the hiker fell to the ground, a hole in his chest. His heart beat a couple more times before stopping, with blood dripping down Tuatha's arm. It was just what she needed.

It was just after that that Phoebe had found her location thanks to the scrying spell. Now they could go up against her.

* * *

The problem for the three Charmed sisters was that Kyle was downstairs doubting himself. He'd had no idea how he'd made the wand spin, and there was no chance he was making it happen again. No matter how much Leo told him he could do it, Kyle was sure it wasn't going to work.

"It came from your heart, from inside of you," Leo tried to get through to him, hoping against everything that this boy could gain the strength and confidence he would need, "You willed it."

"So, I'm supposed to will some evil witch dead?" Kyle asked, trying to get his head around the danger they were asking him to throw himself into, "Why me? I don't understand that. Out of everyone else…"

"Don't sell yourself short, Kyle," Leo smiled softly, wondering just how Castiel would have managed to get through to him without his people skills. That was something Castiel had lost over the years, without having that many charges as he continued to move up the ranks of white lighters, "You saw what you did before. Now, that was you. All you have to do is believe in yourself. Try it again."

Kyle didn't have time to try again as the three sisters walked into the kitchen. They were making it clear that this wasn't Kyle's fight; it was theirs. Leo quickly grabbed Piper's arm, as they walked out of the house, "Please, don't."

"Leo, we need to do this," Piper shook her head, and then turned as Prue opened the front door. Without looking, she stepped forward, walking into Dan who was waiting at the front door, ready to knock. Piper glared at him, darkness in her voice, "What are you doing here? You're not welcome."

"Piper, please, I just…I'm sorry…" Dan stuttered, but Piper shook her head. Looking over at the other two sisters, he could see that he wasn't welcome at all.

"We don't have the time for this," Piper shook her head, before placing her hand on Dan's chest to get him to step out of their way, "We have innocents to save."

"Innocents? Maybe I can help." Dan offered, hoping to get back into the good books of the three witches after realizing that they may not be as evil as he initially thought.

"You help?" Piper scoffed, shaking her head, "We don't ask hunters who want us dead for help."

Piper finally stepped past the hunter, making her way to Prue's car. Prue and Phoebe just shook their heads, before stepping past him and to the car. Dan glanced over at Leo, who just shook his head and then closed the door. It was clear the hunter wasn't wanted.

* * *

Phoebe led the way through the woods to the cave, sure that they were getting close. It was getting darker out, and Piper couldn't help but shiver. It wasn't that cold out, but the fear mixed with the dropping temperatures were having an effect on her.

Prue opted to go first. Not only did she want to keep her sisters safe, but she also knew the witch had only seen her. Tuatha didn't know about the other two Charmed Ones, yet.

Taking a step into the cave, a bat flew past her head. Prue couldn't help but shriek at it, stepping sideways onto something that cracked underneath her feet. Glancing down, she shivered at the sight of a skeleton on the ground.

Getting further into the cave didn't make it any easier. More skeletons lined the walls, and on one of the rocks was a bloody heart.

"Okay, okay, okay." Prue whispered to herself, eyes widening at the sight of the heart.

"Thank you for not keeping me waiting long," A familiar voice said from behind Prue, making her turn around sharply, "You witches are so predictable."

Narrowing her eyes, Prue tried to use her telekinesis on the evil witch, but nothing happened. Tuatha just laughed at her, commenting on the spell she'd just used to remove her powers, "Obviously, you didn't count on that, witch."

What Tuatha hadn't counted on was there to be more witches. Piper and Phoebe rushed into the dark cave, but Tuatha was somewhat ready. Throwing a small bomb-like instrument to the ground, Piper and Phoebe were forced to their knees. It gave Prue enough time to get to her sisters.

"Are you guys okay?"

"Three witches. I'll be ready for that next time." Tuatha said, before disappearing in flames. Phoebe's eyes widened in awe, not stopping the word 'cool' from escaping her lips. They all had to admit that it was definitely a cool way for the evil witch to leave.

* * *

Despite not being on the case anymore, Andy had kept up to date with what was happening to Adam Winchester. It was because of that that he found out when Adam was being relocated, without the proper paperwork being processed. His spider senses started tingling, and he called Darryl right away while following where Adam was being taken.

It got even more suspicious when only Pete Sheridan was with Adam. That wasn't the usual protocol.

* * *

Darryl, meanwhile, was still with the Winchesters and Diana Ballard at the Ashland property. For Sam and Dean, everything was falling into place. Sam's previous idea of a vengeful spirit was wrong, and now he believed she was a death omen.

"I've been doing some research into the different types of spirits," Sam explained, when even Dean was surprised at the idea. Sam wondered whether Dean was just surprised that Sam had thought of something he hadn't, and he tried hard not to be offended by that. Darryl and Diana were more confused over the idea of death omens, so Sam explained, "Claire isn't killing anyone. She's trying to warn them. Sometimes spirits don't want vengeance, but justice. This is why she brought us here. She wants us to know who her killer is."

Dean nodded his head, glancing down at the body before looking at Diana, "How much do you know about your partner?"

"Pete? You think Pete did this?" Darryl asked, but then thought back to the conversation he'd just had with Andy, "That would explain…"

"Oh my God! It explains the heroin!" Diana gasped, placing her hand to her mouth as her eyes grew wide, "Some heroin went missing from lockup about a year ago."

"I heard about that," Darryl nodded, "It had to be a cop. Never did hear who it was."

"We never found out," Diana explained, shaking her head. It was all piecing together, now, "Whoever did it would need someone to fence their product."

All eyes looked down at the body. It was clear that Claire was the fencer, and it all fit that Sheridan had killed her to keep her quiet.

* * *

Adam sat in the back of the prison transport, shaking his head at himself. This all seemed a little too convenient. Sheridan had walked into the holding room, telling him that he was being transferred to a different jail. It wasn't that Adam didn't trust the police system, but he didn't trust this guy. Something deep inside of him told him that there was something wrong here.

What he hadn't realized was that Andy was driving just behind them. Sheridan transporting Adam stood out as strange, especially with just Pete Sheridan doing the transporting. Without Darryl getting back to him and without knowing the Winchesters were on their way to save their brother, Andy had really had no choice but to follow under the cover of darkness.

There wasn't much communication happening. If there was, Andy would have realized that the Winchesters were on their way. They weren't that far behind after getting the lo-jack turned on. Diana and Darryl were feeling apprehensive hearing that not only was Andy worried about Adam's well-being but that dispatch had been trying to call Pete and he wasn't answering the radio.

* * *

While Andy, Dean, Sam, Darryl and Diana were after Adam and Pete before it was too late, Leo was trying to help Kyle handle the wand. Kyle was still adamant that Leo had the wrong person, seeing that nothing was happening when it came to trying to use the wand. It took time but Leo was finally losing his patience.

"Alright, you're not just the seventh son, you are the seventh generation of chosen ones," Leo tried to explain why it had to be Kyle who handled the wand and vanquished Tuatha, "It's in your blood. You just have to believe."

And this is where it came back in a full circle. Adam didn't believe in anything, especially not himself. Leo shook his head, rubbing his eyes before finally throwing his hands in the air, "Innocent people are going to die. Are you willing to live with that?"

"No," Kyle shook his head, raising his voice, "No, you don't lay that crap on me."

"Does that make you mad?" Leo asked, clearly not apologetic for his words, "Good. At least that means finally you're being a real you."

Kyle was just telling Leo what he wanted to hear, he wanted Kyle to get angry. As he got angrier, there was a chance that he would figure out just what he was angry about. It was clear what Kyle was angry about, and Leo decided to push some buttons, "You think you're the forgotten one. Sick and tired of it all, too, aren't you? Well, aren't you?"

The wand glowed in Kyle's hand and suddenly Leo found himself flying through the air and into the glass window. Landing on the front lawn hard, Leo groaned, but he'd made happen just what he wanted.

Panicking, Kyle rushed over to the window to see Leo lying on the ground in pain, "I'm sorry!"

"What the hell!" Piper shrieked, rushing over to Leo, so she could help him stand. Prue and Phoebe looked at Kyle through the broken window, "What the hell was that?"

"A little training, that's all." Leo explained, letting Piper help him stand up.

"Leo, you're mortal now. You can't just let yourself get thrown through windows!" Piper groaned, as Prue commented about the cost of fixing the window. Leo was more concerned at the fact that Piper was bleeding on her head, and soon realized that Tuatha had been ready.

"She stripped away my power." Prue admitted.

"And then literally disappeared before I had the chance to freeze her," Piper explained, "It's a good thing she wasn't expecting all three of us, otherwise we wouldn't have gotten out there."

Everything that Leo had worried about had almost happened. Now hopefully they would agree to training Kyle, so he could do his duty; fulfil his destiny. Of course, that would only happen if Kyle would try, but seeing the destruction of the window and how the Charmed sisters had been getting back from trying to vanquish her had scared him off. As Kyle rushed out of the house, all the Charmed Ones could do was find out if there was a way to strip away the powers of an evil witch. This was just Phoebe's forte.

* * *

Back in the cave, Tuatha had now collected two more hearts. She would strip the powers from the other two witches. As she sprinkled her dust, her snake hissed, alerting her to newcomers. Frowning, Tuatha turned, wondering whether the three witches were stupid enough to come back already. Hadn't they learned that she couldn't be vanquished?

Instead, she caught a young girl—no more than 16—her long dark hair covering her shoulders. But this wasn't just any young girl. Tuatha could see the glowing yellow eyes, and she couldn't help but grin.

"Well, it looks like someone's been very favorable to you over the years, Azazel," Tuatha stated. Azazel just looked at her with a roll of the eyes of the host he had, "I'm surprised to see you in that, though."

"This girl is close to the Charmed Ones," Azazel explained, "Who just happen to be the witches you went up against earlier."

"The Charmed Ones?" Tuatha tilted her head with a frown, "But there was only three of them. I thought…"

"The other three are dealing with another problem," the Yellow-Eyed Demon explained, "But they won't rest without you gone."

"It's not like they can vanquish me. They need the Chosen One."

"And they have him," Azazel told her, wiping the confident smirk off the red-head's face, "The good news is I know where he is, along with your wand."

* * *

The only spell that Phoebe had managed to find to strip the witch of her powers meant the use of a human heart. She had to admit finding that in a good witch's Book of Shadows surprised her. How did anyone expect them to get hold of something like that?

The three Charmed sisters were at a loss, moping at the idea that they couldn't stop Tuatha. They had no spell in the Book of Shadows, and Kyle had run out on them. They hadn't even noticed the snake that had appeared in the living room.

"Snake!" Leo shouted, rushing into the room. At first, the three looked at him with confused looks, but then glanced in the direction he was pointing. Prue freaked, rushing over to the fireplace to grab one of the tools. She managed to cut the snake in half, but it hadn't killed it. Instead, it magically turned into two snakes.

Piper flicked her wrists, trying to freeze the creatures on the spot but nothing was happening. Either they could protect themselves from magic, or the evil witch had managed to strip her of her powers. Piper wasn't sure which one she'd hoped was the right answer.

Right now, there wasn't time to think. There were two snakes about to attack the three witches and former white lighter.

It all seemed dire, but just in the nick of time Kyle ran back into the house. The walk had given him time to clear his mind, and realize that being with the Charmed Ones made him feel special; made him feel like someone. All he had to do was vanquish this witch.

Leo spotted Kyle in the doorway, as he starred at the snake, "Kyle! Catch!" Throwing the wand, he just had to hope that Kyle had the confidence and trust to catch and use it. The teenager grabbed the wand and then looked at the two snakes, shouting out one simple word.

"Die!" The snakes disappeared, and Kyle soon realized that he really was the Chosen One.

* * *

It wasn't going as well for Adam. Sheridan had pulled the van over at the side of the road, just an hour away from the police station. Frowning, he instantly put his guard up. The detective hadn't said a word. He just stepped out of the armoured van, around to the back. Adam had to make a decision. Should he use his powers to protect himself or protect the family secret?

He didn't have time to do anything. Sheridan opened the door to the van and quickly grabbed Adam, throwing him out of the van and onto the damp ground.

"You're a cocky son of a bitch," Sheridan said to him, "You really think you're gonna get away with everything? Well, you're not. You're gonna die trying to escape from here."

Adam's brown eyes grew wide, looking up at Sheridan, who now had a gun pointing to his head. Holding his hand up, he panicked, "Wait! Let's talk about this. I mean, you don't wanna do something you'll regret later."

Sheridan cocked the gun though, ready to shoot. Before he did, a twig behind him snapped. Glancing behind him, he saw Andy with his own gun raised.

"Put the gun down, Sheridan."

"You first, Trudeau," Sheridan said, jumping behind Adam to put the gun close to his head, "You really wanna risk your own life to protect this low-life. You know he's bad news. How many times has he mess up your cases?"

"Pete, put the gun down!" Diana's voice now called out from the tree line, shocking Sheridan even further, "I know about Claire."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Sheridan decided he was going to deny it to the end, even if there were now three detectives and three witnesses.

"Put the gun down!" Darryl now ordered. The three detectives had their guns raised, but Dean and Sam were ready to work magic if necessary. Dean knew that with a flick of his wrists he could save his brother, but they really needed the confession from this cop.

"You're fast, Morris, but I'm pretty sure I'm faster."

"Why are you doing this?" Diana now asked, trying to wrap her head around the whole situation. It was soon clear that Pete had murdered those who were involved in the previous heroin deal. Claire had wanted to turn him in, then Tony wanted to come clean about his involvement. Of course, he'd told his wife everything, and Pete knew eventually she would turn him in.

"It was a mess. I had to clean it up," Sheridan explained, "I just panicked."

"How many more people are gonna die over this, Pete?" Diana asked, looking down at the young man with the gun to his head. Sheridan had found a way out. While he'd have preferred the eldest Winchester, at least Adam had connections to unsolved crimes. There wouldn't need to be a trial. People would just accept that he was involved in all of them, and had been involved in this.

Pete had made his mistake, though. He'd thrown Adam to the ground while shouting, giving Dean a chance to flick his wrists. All the detectives froze on the spot, giving the brothers a chance to find a way around it.

"What do we do?" Sam panicked, rushing over to his younger brother to find a way to get the cuffs off. Dean ran his hand through his hair, looking around at the cops.

"We need Andy and Darryl," Dean sighed, "But I'm not sure…I don't know if I can unfreeze the two of them."

"All you can do is try," Sam suggested, "If you can't, then just freeze everyone again."

Dean nodded his head and then concentrated on the two inspectors that he wanted to unfreeze. With a flick of his wrists, he held his breath and hoped. Nothing happened, so Dean tried again. The wrong two police officers unfroze. Dean cursed under his breath, as Sheridan looked around confused. How had the other Winchester managed to reach his prisoner? He didn't even notice that Andy and Darryl were still frozen. Diana used Pete's shock as her chance to fire a shot at him. She hit him in the stomach, knocking him to his knees in shock.

"Maybe you should think about buying me another necklace, you ass." Diana told him, just as her legs were knocked out from underneath her. Her gun flew backwards, as Peter tackled himself on top of him.

"Dean!" Sam shouted, getting his brother's attention to the gun by his feet. Instead, Adam held out his hand to use his own powers to grab the gun. He aimed it at the two fighting detectives.

"Diana, out of the way!" Dean now shouted, as Andy and Darryl unfroze. They were able to watch as Claire's ghost appeared behind Sheridan. Diana looked at the ghost in shock, causing her partner—former partner now—to look behind. He pushed himself back along the ground, as Claire grinned down at him. She wasn't going to kill him, but she was going to stall him as Andy fired off a round, hitting Sheridan in the back. This time he was definitely down, and not getting back up.

* * *

With the destruction of the snake, Piper had time to create potions to keep Tuatha at bay. Kyle may have returned, but he still wasn't completely confident with in being the Chosen One. The problem was they didn't have the one potion they really wanted. Phoebe had been sure there was a potion for confidence, but it turned out there wasn't.

"I really don't like feeling so powerless," Prue sighed, hating the idea that they had to just rely on potions and spells; and rely on someone else, "We need them back and the only way to do that is to help Kyle defeat Tuatha. We need to find a way to make Kyle feel more courageous without magic."

Grabbing some of the potions, the sisters made their way out of the kitchen and to the sun room, where Kyle was still practicing with the wand. Kyle couldn't help but find the irony in how he'd always wanted to be somebody, and now he was; just not the person he wanted to be at the time.

They didn't have time to talk to him, as Tuatha appeared in a circle of flames. As the flames disappeared, Phoebe quickly threw the sleeping potion in her hands. The red-head just rolled her eyes, faking a yawn before looking at the youngest with a grin.

"So young, so new to the craft," she laughed, "Now this is a sleeping potion." Throwing something at Phoebe's feet, the youngest Halliwell had no choice but to fall to the floor, falling asleep instantly. Leo rushed over, hit with the tail-end of the potion, falling asleep next to Phoebe. Tuatha next threw a potion at Prue and Piper's feet, making the floor around them turn to water.

"Hey! What the…?" Piper started, but Tuatha just held out her hand. The wand floated towards her, making Tuatha laugh even more. This Chosen One wasn't much of one. At least the last one had managed to entomb her.

"Piper, the confidence potion." Prue shouted at her sister. Piper acted on her feet, throwing an empty bottle towards Kyle.

"What? There is no confidence potion." Tuatha argued, but Kyle suddenly felt more courage in himself to get the wand back. Holding out his hands, the wand floated towards him. The evil witch couldn't help but shriek, as she realized the power was slipping from her grip.

The wand was clearly struggling to decide who it should go to. Floating in mid-air, the wand kept moving back and forward. Finally, Kyle put all his thought and command into getting the wand back, making it float directly into his hands.

"I wish you gone forever!" Kyle shouted, aiming the glowing amber jewel at Tuatha. She could just scream, as flames surrounded her. Leaving a mark on the floor, she disappeared. Orbs filled the room, just as Dean, Sam, Adam, Andy and Darryl walked into the house.

"Hey, look who's outta jail." Dean grinned, before frowning when he saw the two people he didn't recognized. The orbs had turned into Castiel, who was here to collect the wand.

"It's broken, anyway." Kyle said to the man, holding it up to show that the jewel was now hanging off the end of the wooden stick.

"It has served its purpose," Castiel said, before glancing at two awake female Charmed Ones, "You did well with the potions. Making up the confidence potion was just what the Chosen One needed."

"Wait, there's no confidence potion?"

"You defeated her. The world thanks you." And with that, Castiel orbed out with the broken wand.

"Okay, who the hell was that?" Sam asked, pointing at the trail of orbs left behind.

"And what's happened to them?" Adam asked, pointing at the floor where Phoebe and Leo still laid. Prue, Piper and Kyle just looked at each other and then laughed. That was a story for another time.

* * *

The six witches, Andy and Darryl sat around a table at P3x2, enjoying some time together. There was laughter, as the explained how their days had gone. There was one thing that was brought up, though.

"I'm sorry I ruined your wedding day," Adam sighed, "You should have just gone through with it, though."

"Like I'm getting married without my pain in the ass cousin there," Prue shook her head, "We can get married another time, can't we, Andy."

"Of course," Andy nodded his head, "Like tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow morning?" Phoebe asked, looking at Andy and Prue in shock. She had expected them to want to take their time to make sure their day was perfect again.

"We've realized that getting a perfect day isn't going to happen," Prue nodded, "What's important is that we get to say our vows in front of you guys. I'm not going to complain. Innocents really do come first."

"There's a gap tomorrow morning," Andy agreed, "So, we're taking the chance while we can. And we want you all to be there."

There was no way any of Prue's sisters or cousins were going to miss it. Work, school and everything else could definitely wait. This was far more important. As they all raised their glasses to celebrate, they didn't see Jenny watching them from the other side of the club. In the dark, it wasn't hard to miss her glowing yellow eyes, but the Charmed Ones were just too busy celebrating.

 **Guest Cast List:**

Dorian Gregory as Darryl

Brian Krause as Leo

Misha Collins as Castiel

Jason Gedrick as Pete Sheridan

Linda Blair as Diana Ballard

Brigid Brannagh as Tuatha

Jay Michael Fergurson as Kyle

Karis Paige Bryant as Jenny Gordon

Greg Vaughn as Dan Gordon

* * *

 **Please do let me know what you thought of the episode. I really hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I really do enjoy joining these two worlds together so trust me when I say I'm not going anywhere to leave this unfinished. Your constructive reviews just help me make it better.**


	13. Episode 13: The Past Comes Back

**Hi everyone. Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter. I know I've not been able to reply to all. Some of you were guests and I can't actually do that to comment on anything you've said, except in here, but that could take ages. I know you want to get on with reading :)**

 **There was a question about constructive criticism: that's when something negative is said but in a helpful way so I can change something. It's not just outright flaming for the sake of being mean. And there are no excuses for just being rude and mean. To me that just seems childish and I won't bother responding or concerning myself with it. There's enough hatred and rudeness in the world.**

 **Here's the next chapter, and it's a version of Pardon My Past.**

Episode 13: The Past Comes Back to Bewitch Us

The music played around the house, as the Charmed Ones celebrated the marriage of Prue and Andy. Friends of the couple attended the house party at the Halliwell-Winchester Manor; their preferred way of celebrating. While the music played, the party was winding down. Phoebe had gone upstairs to do some last minute studying for an upcoming test and Sam had disappeared to work on an essay due.

While Dean, Piper and Adam cleaned up, Prue and Andy said their goodbyes to the remaining party guests.

"Congratulations, again." A woman said, as she left the house. Prue and Andy thanked her, while wishing her a safe drive home, before they closed the door. The only people left that weren't family were Darryl, Leo and Jo, all helping to tidying up.

Dean walked out of the kitchen, just as Jo felt a dizzy spell. Without any notice, she dropped the glasses to the floor. Dean flicked his wrists to stop the glasses and Jo from hitting the floor.

"Jo!" Dean had shouted as it all happened, getting the attention of Prue, Andy and Darryl. Prue quickly used her powers to put the glasses back on the tray and onto the dining table, while Dean got ready to catch Jo as he unfroze her. Andy and Darryl watched the blonde-haired hunter with concern in their eyes.

"Are you okay?" Darryl asked, "Did you trip."

"No, I just…I guess I got a little faint." Jo said, smiling reassuringly at Dean. He wasn't convinced, though and took her over to the couch while Prue disappeared to grab a glass of water.

"Is it…" Dean started, but there were too many pairs of ears. By now, Leo and Adam had also joined them, and Prue was coming back with the glass of water, along with Piper. Nobody had heard about Jo's pregnancy yet, and this wasn't how he wanted to tell her.

"I'm okay, really Dean," Jo smiled at him again, grabbing his hand, "Everything is fine. It's normal. I've been feeling like this for a couple of days."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Dean asked, concerned and worried all at the same time. He couldn't keep Jo safe enough right now with his unborn child. So far there hadn't been any demon attacks, but Dean was just waiting for something evil to find out she was pregnant with a presumably powerful witch.

"Dean…" Jo sighed, rubbing her eyes, "I'm fine, really."

"Let me take you home, then." Dean resigned to the fact that his girlfriend—were they girlfriend and boyfriend yet? Dean felt like a high schooler even thinking about it—wasn't going to give in and accept any concern from him, right now.

Nodding her head, Jo had to admit that she felt tired. Accepting Dean's support as she stood up slowly, they made their way out of the house and to Dean's Impala.

"You'd think she was seriously ill with the way he was protecting her," Darryl couldn't help but comment, "I've never seen him like that with one of you guys."

"He's not usually that overprotective," Piper narrowed her eyes, glancing over at Prue, "There's something going on."

Prue couldn't help but nod in agreement, before looking at her youngest cousin, "Do you know?"

"Why would I know?"

"You're the one he's more likely to say something to."

"Actually, Prue, you'd be the one he's more likely to talk to," Piper disagreed with her sister's logic, "But this is Dean and he never talks."

"Guess we'll have to keep an eye on him then." Andy suggested with a shrug of his shoulders, making the others agree.

"Hey, guys," Phoebe peered her head over the banister of the stairs, "I don't mean to be a party-pooper and I know this is your big day, but you promised that you'd keep it down now."

"Sorry, Phoebs," Prue looked up with a soft smile, "We didn't realize we were being so loud. We'll keep it down now."

"Thank you. I didn't realize just how many phobias there was to learn!" she sighed, holding up a set of flashcards in her hand, "Claustrophobia, Arachnophobia, Kleptophobia, Phallusphobia…"

"Exam-o-phobia?" Adam asked with a smirk, not understanding why she was getting so stressed about the upcoming test. From what she'd said, it was worth five percent of her grade, and she'd already memorized the majority of the phobias.

"Cute," Phoebe smirked with a roll of her eyes, before getting ready to go back upstairs, "Just please…do you mind keeping it down now. It is after 1am, after all."

"Party's breaking up," Andy nodded, wrapping his arm around Prue's waist as he spoke, "Five minutes and you'll have your silence."

"Thank you." Phoebe smiled softly at her new brother-in-law, before making her way back up the stairs.

The group of adults got back to cleaning up after the party, all of them leaving the living room.

Upstairs, Phoebe pulled the notebook back onto her lap, her bed scattered with papers, books and the laptop. She couldn't help but stick her tongue out, as she wrote the phobias out again; hoping it would help the hardest ones stick in her brain.

Hearing the music turn off, the youngest Halliwell grinned with a sigh of relief, "Finally." She could finally get the silence she would need.

At least, that's what she'd hoped. Suddenly, the music started playing again. This was very different to before, with a 1920s theme to it. The theme of the music wasn't something that bothered her right now. It was the breaking of the promise. They'd said that they were keeping the music down.

Climbing off the bed again, Phoebe made her way out of the room and back down the stairs, ready to give them a piece of her mind. It didn't help that she could hear loud chatting, as if the party had started back up, "You guys pro…"

Phoebe stopped in her tracks on the stairs, realizing that there was nobody else in the room. The music and voices continued, as Phoebe stepped into the dining room to look around. All of a sudden, she felt herself being pushed against the wall, her hands forced above her head. Her nightdress was pulled up, as she felt a breath on her neck, arousing her.

It was seconds after a lamp was knocked off the nearby table, shattering everywhere, that the party noises stopped. Real people rushed into the room, and Phoebe felt herself released. Not expecting the sudden release, she dropped to the ground, the straps of her nightgown and the top of her dressing gown falling off one of her shoulders.

"Phoebe?" Prue cried out, rushing over to her sister. Piper joined her, helping to cover her up, as the men noticed her state of undress. Phoebe sat up, quickly pulling up her nightgown and dressing gown, just as Sam rushed down the stairs.

"Is everything okay? I heard a crash." Sam said, breathing heavily to make it clear that he'd ran straight out of his room and down the stairs.

"I…uh…I think so." Phoebe couldn't quite explain what had happened, but it was definitely something she wanted to find out.

* * *

Meanwhile, Dean was getting Jo back to the Roadhouse, still concerned at the dizzy spell earlier. Jo rolled her eyes, as he asked her once again if she was sure she was okay, "It's normal. I've been feeling dizzy the last few days. My doctor says it's all part of pregnancy. Oh the joys!"

"Okay." Dean said, but he clearly wasn't convinced.

Jo decided now was the time to change the conversation, "You know, your cousins will be wondering why you're being so overprotective of me. It's not like it was a demon."

"No they won't." Dean shook his head, in denial. Deep down, though, he knew he almost gave the pregnancy away. It wasn't that easy keeping it from them, especially as Jo got further along, but they had two weeks left until they'd agreed to start telling people.

Pulling up outside the Roadhouse, Dean glanced at the dark sign. The lights were off inside, and it was clear everyone had gone home. He didn't like the idea of Jo getting into the part of the bar that she and her mom stayed in as their home without other people around, so got out of the car to escort her. Once again, the blonde-haired hunter rolled her eyes.

"I'm fine, Dean. Just go home!" She laughed, putting the key into the door that led straight to the living quarters and turning it. Dean didn't leave until he was certain that she was inside and the door was locked.

If only he'd gone inside with her, though. What neither had realized was that Jenny Gordon had been at the Roadhouse. Fully controlled by the Yellow-Eyed Demon, Jenny waited in Jo's room for her. While she hadn't realized the truth about Jo's pregnancy, she knew that this was the way to get to Dean Winchester.

As soon as Jo walked into her room, she noticed a figure in the dark. Turning her light on, she frowned at the 16-year-old girl, "Jenny?"

"Not quite." Jenny smirked, her eyes flashing yellow. Jo instantly knew who she was dealing with, but realized she had nothing to help protect her or stop Jenny from attacking her. Now she'd wished she'd let Dean escort her all the way into her room.

* * *

Opening Credits

* * *

By the time Dean got back home, Phoebe was sitting on the couch with Prue next to her. It allowed the youngest sister to cuddle into her protective big sister, while Andy, Darryl and Leo watched her carefully. They knew that this was something magical, but nobody could work out what it was yet.

Adam sat on the coffee table, allowing him to watch his cousin, as Sam walked in from upstairs with the Book of Shadows. Piper was bringing a glass of water to her sister, which Phoebe couldn't help but take gratefully.

"What's going on?" Dean asked, clearly concerned at the looks on everyone's faces.

"Phoebe was attacked." Sam explained, making Dean panic.

"What? By who? When?"

"I don't know," Phoebe shook her head, as Sam placed the Book of Shadows on the coffee table next to his little brother, "I don't think the Book is going to do much good right now, Sam."

"Why don't you tell us what happened?" Leo suggested, as Dean shrugged out of his blue jacket before sitting on the chair opposite the couch. He leaned forward on his knees, watching Phoebe intently.

"Uh…ok," Phoebe tried her hardest to explain the feelings, "I heard what I thought were party noises, so I came downstairs to kinda yell at you guys and…I was attacked by something invisible."

"Like a ghost?" Darryl asked, but the witches shook their heads. If it was a ghost, they'd be able to see it.

"I didn't sense another being either," Phoebe shook her head, "There was a breath but…it was more like a daydream, I guess."

"Since when do daydreams attack people?" Piper asked, frowning as she folded her arms.

"It wasn't really an attack. It was more of," Phoebe swallowed before she continued, feeling embarrassed by the number of men in the room, "A seduction."

"Interesting daydream." Adam smirked at his cousin, making her scoff at his comment. It didn't help explaining it, though. In all his years as a whitelighter, Leo had never come across something like this. That made it even worse, because none of them knew if this daydream was ever going to attack again.

Because of it, Phoebe was not allowed to be left alone. Dean remained awake that night to keep an eye on his baby cousin. He wasn't letting anything happen to her. At the back of his mind for the last six months was the fact that the Yellow-Eyed Demon was still out there. Who knew what he was doing, especially since it was clear from his impersonation of the Talbot character that there was another demonic player in town. They'd never vanquished Meg, and Dean wasn't assuming that she'd gone in some other way. She was just biding her time.

The next morning, it was up to the others to look after her. Sam and Adam walked Phoebe to class on the way to their own classes, promising to meet his cousin outside after her test.

"I haven't needed someone to walk me to school since the first grade." Phoebe rolled her eyes. That had been Prue who walked her to school. The year after, she'd begged Grams to let her go alone. Grams had only allowed it because she was put in charge of getting Sammy to school, too.

"Get used to it," Sam smirked, "Until we figure out what happened, you're getting bodyguards."

"How do you know that you two don't need the bodyguard?" Phoebe asked, shrugging her shoulders, "How do you know that he or she won't come after you next?"

"From the description, it sounded very…what did Prue say? Intimate?" Adam chuckled, "You're the only one he's interested in. Now, go and ace that test. We'll see you here afterwards."

Phoebe nodded her head, and then made her way into the classroom. Sam and Adam couldn't help but look at each other with concern. They'd feel much better if they knew who or what was attacking their cousin.

* * *

Across the city at the club, Piper and Leo were going through the boxes of glasses that they'd borrowed for the party the night before, returning each of them to their rightful places behind the bar. Piper had thought it would be weird and difficult working with her ex-boyfriend, but Leo had been great. It was clear he still had feelings for her, but he never pushed her for anything; grateful that she'd given him a job and somewhere to sleep (in the backroom of the club) until he got his wings back.

"How's Phoebe? Any more attacks after I left?"

"Dean stayed up all night and said no." Piper shook her head.

"Really? That's uh…that's good." Leo said, but Piper noted a hint in his voice that he knew something. There was something that he wasn't telling her.

"What do you know?"

"It may not have anything to do with last night, but I…it's just…" Leo sighed, realizing that he was going to have to explain, just in case, "I was up all night trying to recall a similar situation another whitelighter…actually Castiel…had with one of his charges. It had something to do with uh…a past life coming back to haunt her present one."

"What?"

"I tried calling for Castiel, but he didn't come to talk to me about it," he quickly continued, "It's very rare and doesn't happen to most people. But if I remember right, in this particular case, her past life was trying to warn her present one."

"Warn her about what?" Piper asked, her features earning a frown as she tried to get as much as possible out of her suspended whitelighter.

"That's why I was trying to call Castiel," Leo explained, "I don't have a way of finding out, and I don't really know. I have no other way of finding out."

There was a hint of regret and sadness in Leo's voice, making Piper sigh. She knew what he was regretting; the fact that he couldn't help. He missed being a whitelighter, and Leo had to admit that that was the case in situations like this.

"I hate knowing that I can't help you." Leo explained, just as footsteps sounded from the stairs.

"Hey, the door was open and…" Dan's voice caught Piper by surprise, and she raised her hands ready to freeze him. If only her sister was here to throw him across the room. Leo grabbed her hands. It would be no use freezing him, considering they needed to know why he was here.

"What do you want?" Piper didn't look at Leo, but she definitely made it clear by forcing her hands back that she didn't appreciate being stopped.

"I'm sorry. I know you don't want to see me right now, but I…well…Jenny hasn't been home in a few days and I was wondering if you'd seen her."

"Why would I have seen her?" Piper asked, stepping around the bar to face the hunter. Despite being a few inches shorter than him, she made it clear that she wasn't scared. After all, she was the one with the magical power.

"Because she's been here the last few nights," Dan explained, "I found the stubs you hand out when people pay. I was hoping you'd seen her."

"She can't get in here," Piper shook her head, "She's too young."

"It wouldn't be the first time." Leo reminded Piper under his breath, but it just made the situation worse. Dan frowned, looking between Piper and Leo. He'd obviously not heard about the time that Maselin attacked.

"Where is she, Piper? I swear if you've done something…" Dan started, but instantly regretted his words. Piper glared at the hunter, anger in her brown eyes.

"You think I'd do something to an innocent girl?" Piper shouted, stepping towards Dan. He couldn't help but step backwards, "I would never, ever hurt an innocent girl. I know you hunters have your prejudices against witches, but we're not all evil."

"Piper, I'm…"

"I'd suggest you leave." Leo told the hunter, placing a hand on Piper's shoulder to calm her down. She shrugged out of his gentle hold, taking another step closer to the hunter.

"Get out of this club," Piper told him, "NOW!"

Dan didn't wait to be told again. Even if he wholeheartedly believed that a witch could be good—which he didn't right now—he wouldn't want to face this witch's temper. If Jenny had been there, it had been without Piper realizing. Surely she'd have said something if a 16-year-old had walked into the club. Her business was important to her.

As the door closed on Dan, Piper turned back to face Leo, "I can't believe that man! He actually thought I'd hurt an innocent girl? Is that seriously what hunters really think of witches?"

"Some of them, yes," Leo explained, not really comfortable about the conversation, "This all dates back to the Salem witch trials. Actually, even further when you take in other parts of the world. Hunters go after things that aren't human. To them witches can't be human."

"But Ellen and Bobby…"

"They learned about good witches because of John," Leo continued, "And John only learned because he knew Mary and accepted her. Not all of them get to know a good witch. There are plenty of evil ones out there."

Piper sighed, knowing that she would just have to accept the answer. It didn't mean she liked it.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sam and Adam sat on the bench just outside the wooden bench in the corridor of the college building. Checking his watch, Sam realized that Phoebe's test would be over soon, and they'd be able to get back home. He should have gone to his own class, but they needed to find out what had attacked his cousin.

"You think she's alright in there?" Adam asked, making Sam look over to his younger brother.

"We'd know by now if she wasn't." Sam nodded.

With a sigh, he stood up. He needed to stretch after sitting down for so long, and those dark wooden benches weren't exactly comfortable. Walking over to one of the noticeboards, he took in a sign about a party at one of the sororities at the weekend, unusually inviting many others to come along. Usually it was just between the sororities and sister fraternities.

Before he had a chance to think anything else of it, he felt something wrap around his neck. Sam was pulled backwards with so much force that he hit the wall on the other side. Some of the students passing by stopped and looked in shock, as Adam quickly jumped up off the bench and ran to help his brother.

"Sam?" Adam asked, shaking his brother, who was grabbing at his neck. He was struggling to breathe, and Adam had no idea what to do. All he could do was call his brother's name, "Sam! SAM!"

As quickly as it happened, Sam stopped fighting and sat up with a deep gasp. He couldn't help but wrap his hands around his neck, checking for the offending item that felt like had been wrapped around him.

"Are you okay?" Adam asked, just as the door to the classroom opened. Students piled out, with Phoebe in the middle. She stopped as she saw her two cousins on the floor, both pale, sweaty and full of fear. Instantly, she knew something magical had happened.

"What is it? Did he attack?"

* * *

Dean flipped the pages of his dad's journal, shaking his head. Piper sat next to him on the living room couch, looking through the heavy pages of the Book of Shadows. Phoebe and Leo stood behind them, looking over their shoulders, while Sam and Adam waited expectedly across from them. Prue waited nervously by the fireplace.

"What am I looking for?" Piper asked, shaking her head.

"Anything to do with past lives." Leo sighed, leaning on the back of the couch to see the ancient tome.

Dean closed his father's journal, shaking his head again, "There's nothing in there. There may be something in some of the other books that Bobby sent. I'm guessing spells and potions are the things you're looking for."

"Or incantations," Leo nodded his head, "There should be something in the Book of Shadows about it, though. I'm sure of it."

"You really think this has something to do with Phoebe's past life?" Prue asked, looking directly at the former whitelighter.

"And Sam's," Leo nodded, "Since he felt something, too. That's how our souls evolve, how we grow as individuals. From one lifetime to the next." He explained.

"Okay, so why is my past life trying to kill me?" Sam asked, shaking his head. None of this made sense. And why was it him now, rather than just Phoebe? She was the one attacked the night before. The one they were worried about.

"I don't think it is," Leo shook his head, sighing frustrated. He hated not being able to check with Them, and hated Castiel not answering his calls. This was something he really needed Their help with, "I…I think it's trying to warn you. Give you a chance to do something about it. Maybe it's to do with premonitions. Both of you get them."

"Maybe that's just a coincidence." Phoebe didn't sound too convinced, but Dean refused to believe in coincidences. Every happened for a reason, especially when it came to magic.

"Wait, do something about what?"

"Well, whatever happened before that's putting them in danger now."

"Where's Sherlock Holmes when you need him?" Phoebe glanced across at Dean as she said it, both sharing a smirk as she mentioned one of their favorite TV shows.

"Oh, we don't need him!" Piper gleefully shouted, as she pointed at a page in the Book of Shadows, "We've got this, Leo's right. There's a spell that will take you to that past life."

Phoebe moved around the couch, sitting on it next to her sister, as Sam moved to sit on the arm. Prue and Adam now moved to stand behind the couch, as all six witches looked at the spell.

"Wait, we're not the ones doing this."

"It's written in first person," Phoebe said, glancing across to Sam, "It looks like we have to do this separately."

Dean frowned, taking the Book of Shadows to flip through the pages. He quickly noticed there was a spell to get them there, but not to get them back. There was no way he was letting them do this. As Prue agreed with him, Leo chimed in as the voice of reason again.

"It means they can probably come back whenever they want to."

"Probably isn't good enough, Leo," Prue disagreed, "What if they're trapped in their past lives when something awful happens?" she asked.

"If we don't go back, that same awful thing could happen anyway? It could happen in this life."

"Then we go with you both." Dean shrugged his shoulders, making it clear that this was not up for discussion. The problem was that wasn't the way the spell was written. Adam quickly pointed out that it was those whose past lives had called out to them. Only they could go back to see the danger.

"Look, I've just started to turn my life around," Phoebe explained, looking at her sisters and cousins, "I don't want my past life ruining it for me now."

"And I'd like to be able to move on from all this." Sam pointed out and nodded at Phoebe. It was time for them to do this.

" _Remove the chains of time and space,_

 _And make my spirit sore._

 _Let these mortal arms embrace_

 _The life that haunts before."_

Phoebe suddenly collapsed into Piper's lap, sound asleep. Sam fell to his left, collapsing on top of his cousin. All the other four witches and suspended whitelighter could do was look at each other nervously.

* * *

Phoebe looked around, confused at her surroundings. She could tell she was in San Francisco, still at the Manor, but everything looked different. The cars were definitely not the Impala and Prue's SUV, and the clothing people wore looked like something from _Thoroughly Modern Milly_. A honking car caught Phoebe's attention, and she looked across at the 1920s style. It was clear she'd somehow ended up in the past; not something she really wanted to happen.

Staring up at the front doors of the Manor, she couldn't help but notice how little it had changed over the years. It still looked like her home, but with many more people going in and out; and party music playing loudly from inside.

"Care to take my arm, dear sister?" A familiar voice said to her from her side. Phoebe looked across to see Sam standing next to her in a smart tuxedo, his arm out so she could take it.

"Why, thank you." Phoebe said, a small smile playing on her lips.

As they walked up the stairs to the front door, a woman walked out. She couldn't help but stop Phoebe on the way, "Thanks for the love potion. Worked wonders."

Phoebe and Sam continued to walk, allowing a man in a tuxedo open the door, "Welcome back Mr. and Miss. Russel."

The music got louder as the door opened, showing the large group of people already in the house. As Phoebe and Sam walked in, they had a mixture of looks. Some of them smiled, but there was a good number of hateful glares thrown their way. They weren't loved by all in the 1920s.

* * *

Piper could just watch her sister, who they'd now settled on the couch comfortably, nervously. Dean watched Sam, who was now laid on the floor, a cushion under his head.

"You think she's all right?" Piper asked, looking up at Leo, who still stood behind the couch.

"She looks alright so far. Sam too," Leo answered honestly, but it didn't make any of the four awake witches feel any easier. They had no idea what would happen while they were visiting their past lives.

* * *

Phoebe and Sam continued to walk through the hallway, glancing in the mirror. It was then that Phoebe noticed her clothing and hairstyle. She wore a pretty, sparkly red flapper dress, with a red feather bower wrapped around her shoulders that would otherwise have been bare. Her dark hair was pinned back in a style considered fashionable for the period, finished off with a sparkly diamond headband across her forehead. In her hand, she clutched a small red and white drawstring bag, perfect for holding her possessions and potions.

The music grew louder as she and Sam walked into the living room. It was upbeat, live music, and Phoebe couldn't help but glance across the room at the upright piano. The piano matched the one they still had in the Halliwell-Winchester Manor now, but the person sitting at it didn't match any of the current residents. Phoebe couldn't help but notice that Dan—or at least Dan's past life—sat at the piano, playing away.

Dan glanced across the room, and Phoebe felt herself glare. Dan glared back at the two witches in the doorway. Despite having full awareness, she had no control over anything going on. Sam must have felt the same, which would explain the sister remark. They were clearly siblings and not cousins in this life.

"We don't need his kind here." Sam said, pulling Phoebe towards the bar in the hallway. It was positioned so it blocked what was now the downstairs bathroom. Phoebe couldn't help but wonder whether it was a bathroom now, or whether that was a modern change that Penny Halliwell had made at some point. Not that it mattered, but she was interested.

A barman in a black waistcoat and white shirt looked up at the two witches, and smiled nervously. Without asking, he poured them drinks, as a woman walked to stand next to Sam.

"Well, I was wondering where you went off to." The woman said to Phoebe, while tracing her fingers along Sam's chest. Sam looked at her with a smirk, as Phoebe held up her small bag.

"I had to get some herbs," she explained, with a bored tone to her voice, "I can't very well make my potions without them. Would you like me to curse anyone for you?"

The woman glanced across the room, Phoebe and Sam's eyes following. A man stood in the corner of the dining room, glaring at the woman, "Maybe later."

With an impish giggle, the woman winked at Sam. Before she could walk away, Jo—Jo's past life, anyway—walked up to the bar. While she wore a black and white loose flapper dress, it wasn't loose enough to hide the large baby bump forming. Phoebe couldn't help but look at the woman in disgust, although she had no idea why this was.

"I can't believe she's here," the woman said, in a loud whisper to make sure Jo could hear her, "She has no decency."

"You would think Palmer wouldn't flaunt his mistress in front of his wife, wouldn't you?" Sam agreed with a nod, glancing across at Phoebe.

"Remember dear brother, Palmer can do no wrong," Phoebe waved the two off, "And that harlot is even worse."

"Hurry up with that giggle water, Jake," Dean's voice boomed across the hallway, making Phoebe and Sam look up. The woman quickly ran off, as Dean strode across the room, dressed in black trousers and a white shirt. He had no jacket or tie, standing out from the rest of the partygoers, and nobody seemed to question it. His hair was gelled one way, with a smart side parting, "We have thirsty people waiting."

"Yes, Mr. Baxter." The barman nodded, leaving Phoebe and Sam's drinks to attend to Dean's request.

Dean placed a hand on the small of Jo's back, glaring at Phoebe and Sam as he stood near them. Sam couldn't help notice the wedding ringon Dean's finger, but the lack of one on Jo. This must be 'Palmer' and the mistress. Dean whispered something to Jo, making her nod and leave the bar area, before turning to the two siblings, "Don't you two have anything better to do? I thought I told you to stay away from Eleanor."

"What's the matter, dear cousin?" Phoebe smirked, "You're not afraid of me, are you?"

"Should I be?" Dean asked, before walking away in the same direction as Jo. He passed Piper's past life on the way, making her stop and look at Phoebe and Sam. She rolled her eyes, before continuing her line to Dan. Phoebe admired her simply but elegant black flapper dress, with matching black headband. On the left side, the headband had a black and silver floral design, matching the dress.

Sam didn't miss the dark-haired girl walk up behind Piper, directly to Dean. She grabbed his arm, fire in her dark eyes. It was instantly clear they were in some sort of argument, and when Sam saw the wedding band around the woman's finger, he assumed this was the wife. Trust Dean to have a wife and a mistress.

"Bring my usual to my booth," Phoebe finally said to the barman, before striding past Piper, "Tell your husband to play something different. I'm bored with this old son."

Piper looked over at Dan on the piano, before walking towards him, "Don't worry about her, baby. Just keep playing."

"Anything for you." Dan smirked, looking back at the piano.

Phoebe glared at Piper, before walking into the sun room.

Sam just watched the confrontation, finally getting his bourbon. He watched carefully as Piper grabbed a makeup case from the top of the piano and walked across the living room to Prue's past life. Prue stood behind a camera, in a sky blue flapper dress with black detail. As she stood from the side, Sam could see the back was not the traditional flapper dress. It dropped very low, with a silver chain running in a single line down the center of her bare back. Unlike Piper and Phoebe, Prue's hair was cut short in a bob, and she didn't bother with any headgear.

Sam was too far away to hear the conversation, so he decided to pick up the bourbon and walk over to them, "Hello, Philippa."

"We have to talk…" Prue didn't acknowledge the greeting, "Soon."

"Oh, we're done talking. By the way, you may want to talk to that brother of yours about his womanizing. Using spells to attract women? Is he really that desperate?" Sam laughed once, and then looked at Piper, "Poppy." And with a nod of his head, he walked away. They weren't going to speak freely with him around.

"Did you find the spell?" Prue asked, believing that Sam was now out of earshot. Sam watched Piper out of the corner of his eye, as she opened her makeup case. Prue took a piece of paper out of the case, and Sam couldn't help but glance at them. They just glared at him, making it clear that he wasn't welcome.

With a smirk, Sam just walked over to his own booth in the corner of the living room. A little blonde girl sat on Sam's usual chair, with a woman opposite her. The little girl looked into a crystal ball, glancing down at a much smaller version of the family Book of Shadows.

"Say these words, heed the…"

"Christina Larson, what in the devil are you doing?" Sam snarled at her, grabbing the girl and pulling her up. He glanced at the woman, quickly shooing her away, before turning back to the girl, "I told you to watch my things. That's all." With his spare hand, he grabbed a proscenia doll, throwing it to the ground. The face on the doll smashed into pieces, making the girl—who could have been no more than eight—cry out.

The little girl quickly grabbed her doll and pieces of the face, tears streaming down her face. Sam didn't have a care in the world, "Spells and charms are not toys, Christina. Do you understand me?"

"Hey!" Adam called out, rushing over to the scene. Similarly, to Dean, his hair was gelled into a side parting, but he wore a tailed jacket over his white shirt, with a white bowtie to finish the ensemble. Adam frowned at Sam, before kneeling down to help Christina pick up the pieces. Mumbling a quick spell, he held his hand over the dolls face and magically repaired it. Sam just rolled his eyes at the scene.

"Thank you, Mr. Bowen." Christina grinned.

"I've told you to call me Pierce," Adam grinned. Christina just looked at him with adoration in her eyes and cheeks blushing, before rushing off, presumably to her parents. Adam stood and glared at Sam, "You didn't have to break her damn doll."

"You have no room to judge with your use of magic, dear cousin." Sam stated, matter-of-factly, making Adam shake his head, before walking away. Sam just looked across the room at Phoebe, who was now walking out of the house again.

Phoebe was almost back at the front door, when she was grabbed by a dark-haired man from behind. He pushed her out of the house and around the corner, pinning her against the wall that would be against the stairs. Her hands were suspended above her, pinned to the wall.

"I've been looking all over for you." The man said, and Phoebe knew that this was the invisible confrontation she'd faced the night before. He kissed her passionately, as he slipped the strap from her dress of one shoulder. His hand trailed down Phoebe's body, before pulling the dress up. Just as it seemed to get to the interesting part, the man stopped and he looked into Phoebe's eyes.

"Why must you tease me, Anton?" Phoebe moaned, but Anton just smirked.

"Come with me."

The two made their way around the back of the house, stopping at the backdoor. Pulling a small vial out of his pocket, he handed it to the dark-haired witch, "Drink this."

"What is it?"

"A potion to triple your power. There's one for your brother, too," Anton explained, "In case your cousins are ready for us. It's the only way for us to succeed. You do want that, don't you?"

Phoebe hesitated, but only for a moment. Part of her wondered whether her past self didn't really want to do this, but felt pressured by this tall, dark-haired stranger. She had to admit that he was extremely handsome, too.

As Phoebe drank the potion, Anton grinned, "That's my girl. Test it."

Looking around to make sure no-one was watching first, Phoebe held out her hand. A fireball shot through her fingers, setting a box at the end of the garden on fire.

"You said you had one for me, too." Sam's voice said from behind them. He'd been watching the interaction, impressed at the scale of his sister's power. Anton turned, pulling another vial out of his pocket. Sam didn't hesitate before taking it.

Sam focused on the same box that was currently on fire, causing a dragon to form in the flames. The dragon roared, racing its way towards Anton and Phoebe. Anton protected his lover, as the fire dragon just disappeared around them. Sam couldn't help but laugh.

* * *

Dean watched from the living room doorway with a glare. Phoebe and Sam were still out, and there was no telling what was going on. Suddenly, the two sleeping witches sat up, with gasps of air. They looked around, trying to get their bearings.

"Where am I?" Phoebe asked, as Piper rushed over to her sister. Adam helped Sam off the floor, while Prue and Leo stepped forward from where they'd been impatiently waiting.

"You're home, honey. You're home," Piper comforted her sister, "You're okay. What happened?" She asked.

"I was bad…" Phoebe admitted, fear in her eyes, "Very, very…bad…"

"We both were." Sam gulped, looking up at his big brother.

* * *

Dan made it home, disappointed that he still hadn't found his niece. His sister and brother-in-law were going to kill him. They'd all agree that Jenny would remain in the U.S. and learn all about hunting from her uncle, while they dealt with the demon cult in Saudi Arabia. It just wasn't working out as they'd all planned.

Arguments and long phone calls abroad were one thing, but her going missing for a few days was entirely different. Knowing all about the supernatural world meant that all sorts of scenarios ran through Dan's head. Had a demon killed her? Maybe she was vampire chow. It was always possible that some djinn had taken her and hidden her some place.

Finding the stubs from P3x2 had filled Dan with some hope. There was a chance that someone had seen her. The downside was that it was the Halliwell's club. They'd made it very clear they didn't trust him. Why should they? It wasn't like he'd proven himself as trustworthy, and he wasn't really sure whether he could trust them.

Every hunter had said that witches were evil. Damn it, even John Winchester had fought witches. Now it turned out that his sons were witches, and they could be good? There were no grey areas in hunting. It was always black and white. At least, that's the way it had always been in the past.

Closing the door to his home, Dan sighed. It was all becoming far too confusing, far too difficult. It was much easier when it was all about killing the vampire that had killed his brother.

A noise from the living room caught Dan's attention. Pulling his trusty Smith and Wesson from the back of his jeans, Dan took off the safety and walked as quietly as he could through to the room. In reality, whatever was there had probably heard his door close, but it hadn't known he was in the house yet. Years of tracking and killing vampires had taught him how to be stealthy and quiet, so to sneak up on them.

With the gun ready, he stepped into the living room and looked around. There was nothing there. Frowning, he put his gun back into the back of his jeans. Maybe he was hearing things with witches and demons on his brain.

"You're not a very good hunter, Uncle Dan." Jenny's voice from behind him made him jump. Dan grabbed his chest, as he looked at his 16-year-old niece.

"Jeez, Jenny, you scared the hell outta me," Dan admitted, "Where the hell have you been, young lady?"

"Erm, here…" She said, giving him more attitude than normal. He really hated female hormones. Why couldn't he have been blessed with a nephew instead?

"Where have you been the last few nights? And why haven't you returned my calls?" Dan asked, shaking his head, "I was worried sick about you. I even went to Piper…"

"The Halliwells? You went to those witches?" Jenny asked, folding her arms, "Well, well, well, aren't you the bad hunter."

Dan hadn't said anything to Jenny about their neighbors being witches. She knew that Dean Winchester was a hunter, and that something strange was going on with them, but after the events of the other week, he'd decided not to tell her about their secret. Dean had done as he'd promised and reversed the spell. Narrowing his eyes, he looked into Jenny's green orbs, "How did you know they were witches?"

"We all do." Jenny said, shrugging her shoulders as her eyes turned a bright shade of yellow. Dan had never seen the yellow eyes before, but he'd definitely heard about them. Widening his eyes, he reached for his gun, but the demon possessing his niece was too quick. Jenny held out her hand, making Dan fly through the air and crashing into the wall above the fireplace.

Jenny strode over to her fallen uncle, her heels clipping on the floor. Kneeling down, she grabbed Dan's neck, making him try to fight against her superhuman strength.

"The Halliwells and Winchesters are bad news," Jenny told him, "You work with them and you'll end up just as dead as them. Now, I'm willing to let you go this once. Next time, you won't be so lucky."

Jenny released Dan's neck, standing so she could make her way out of the house. Turning back, she spoke with a sweet voice; the one belonging to the real 16-year-old Jenny, "Oh, pass a message to them the next time you see them, will you? None of them will survive this time. I'll make sure of it."

Dan just watched as Jenny walked out of the house, without a care in the world. Groaning, he let his head fall back on the floor. He definitely needed help, and there was only one family he could turn to for this one.

* * *

Phoebe and Sam decided the attic was the best place to go. They didn't need the Book of Shadows, but something else that would tell them more about their past lives. Prue, Piper, Dean, Adam and Leo had followed the two witches to the attic, unsure of what was going on. They'd missed so much by not going back to the past.

"I know the family tree will help." Phoebe told Sam, kneeling in front of the large trunk, she'd found the Book of Shadows in over 18 months ago.

"I still don't understand." Prue shook her head, a frown forming on her face.

"We were all related, just not in the same way we are now," Phoebe explained, "Sam and I were siblings. I think you two," Phoebe pointed at Piper and Dean, "Were and you two," she now pointed at Prue and Adam, "Were. We were all here, too."

"Together?" Adam raised his eyebrows, "This place was big enough for six of us?"

"I don't think we all lived here," Sam shook his head, "It was a speakeasy and we were running some sort of magical business."

"Wait, magic was out in the open?" Dean looked at them, uneasy at the idea that everyone and anyone knew they were witches.

"Wait, you saw our past lives?" Prue now asked, jumping back to the real issue at hand, "Did we look the same?"

Phoebe looked up from the trunk, nodding her head. Surprisingly, they did all look the same. Before anyone could question it, Leo quickly explained that Phoebe and Sam likely recognized their souls.

"We all tend to travel in the same circle of family, friends, even enemies throughout our various lives. And that's why our souls recognize each other, so we can keep finding each other. That's what soul mates mean."

"It was really weird being back like that," Sam admitted, frowning as he looked at his brothers and cousins, "It was like I didn't have any control over my actions. More like I was a visitor. Watching. Feeling."

"Feeling bad?" Adam asked, concern evident in his voice.

"Feeling very, very bad." Phoebe jumped in.

"It wasn't that bad," Sam now admitted, much to Dean and Prue's shock, "It felt good to be respected and powerful."

"Hey, speaking of powers," Phoebe interrupted, looking at her whitelighter, "How come I didn't get to keep that kickass power I had back then?"

"Well, if you screw up, you regress," Leo shrugged his shoulder, as if it was self-explanatory, "Your past self must have abused her power. That's why it was taken away from you."

"That's too bad, because it was hot. Literally," Phoebe chuckled, and then looked at her middle cousin, "Yours was pretty nifty, too."

"Apparently, it wasn't just power that was hot." Prue smirked, reminding them why Phoebe and Sam had gone to the past.

"Ooo, Anton, he was hot, too," Phoebe nodded, "He was such a good kisser, and so good with his hands…"

"Okay!" Dean shouted, cutting his cousin off, earning a giggle from the 25-year-old. He didn't need to know anything like that from his baby cousin.

"Hands that may have killed Sam." Piper now pointed out, again getting back to the issue of the day.

"It could have also been Past Dan." Sam said with a shrug, earning shocked looks from all those who hadn't been in the past with them.

"Dan? Hunter Dan?" Dean frowned, not liking the idea of a hunter knowing the family back then.

"Uh-huh," Sam nodded, and then looked at Piper, "He was your husband. Sorry, Leo."

"I already know," Leo smirked, "I hope Piper learned from that past mistake."

Frowning, Piper glared at her whitelighter ex-boyfriend. _He knew?_ He knew all about her past life? How was that fair? If he knew, then surely he could have told them about Phoebe and Sam without them needing to go back.

Before Piper could ask anything, Phoebe pulled out a large camera from the trunk. Grinning, she looked at her eldest sister, "Prue, this was yours in your past life."

"Wait, I…" Prue was taken aback, as she walked over to Phoebe. Taking the camera, she smiled, "I was a photographer?"

"A really good one, too," Phoebe nodded with a small smile, glancing across at Piper, who also smiled, "People were lining up to get their portraits taken."

"Really?" Prue couldn't take her eyes off the camera, running her fingers over various parts to remove some of the collected dust over the years. Phoebe had turned back to the trunk, looking for the parchment that she knew had the family tree written on it.

As Phoebe continued to search, Adam couldn't help but ask what his power was. Sam shrugged his shoulders, "Anton was tripling ours to face you guys, so you must have been powerful."

"Found it!" Phoebe shouted, holding up the rolled up family tree. Quickly shutting the trunk, she rolled out the sheet. The whole family and Leo gathered around, Leo placing his hand at the top to make sure it didn't roll back up.

"Well, that's us at the bottom." Dean pointed at the six names at the very bottom of the tree. It had names and dates of birth, and then linked upwards to the next in line. Two females were linked to the six witches, and one female linked to that one. They didn't need the tree to tell them that was their mothers and grandmother.

"Well, this must be us again," Sam said, pointing at six names just above Grams' name. There were three families, two sets of siblings each, "Philippa and Pierce Bowen. That was Prue and Adam."

"And Poppy and Palmer Baxter."

"Dean and me?"

"Oh, yeah, Dean you had a name for yourself. A wife and a mistress," Phoebe smirked, "Jo was your very pregnant mistress."

"Who was the wife?" Adam asked, laughing as Dean pulled a face that was a mixture of disgust and confusion.

"I didn't recognize her." Phoebe shook her head, but Sam couldn't help but mention how she looked similar to Dean's ex-girlfriend from high school.

"Lisa Braeden?" Dean was shocked to even think of that name after almost 10 years of not really thinking about her.

"That's the one." Sam nodded.

The three sisters had moved back to the family tree as the three brothers discussed the scandals of the past. Phoebe soon brought Sam back to the matter at hand when she found their past lives, "Pearl and Patrick Russell. Here we are."

"Definitely us?" Sam asked, looking down at his cousin.

"Definitely, check the date they both died."

Everyone looked at the date. February 6, 1920. The time was right for the music and the speakeasy, but more important than that, they both died on the same day. To top it off, Prue noted another thing about the date. It was the same day as this day. No wonder their past lives were warning them now.

It was Phoebe who noted the final element that meant the two siblings had to be her and Sam. Their birth dates meant that the two were the same ages as she and Sam currently were. There were too many coincidences, and Dean always said there was no such thing as coincidences. Suddenly, Phoebe looked up at Leo, fear in her eyes, "That doesn't mean we're gonna die today, too, right?"

When Leo couldn't answer, the rest of the witches made a silent pact to each other to save their siblings. It was only Prue who spoke, "We have to figure out what happened…fast."

"How?" Piper asked, realizing that even with the family tree it didn't quite give them all the answers they needed. Phoebe sighed, sitting back on her heels. She couldn't figure out anything.

"Wait, that little girl…" Sam said.

"What little girl?" Adam asked, making Sam smirk.

"The girl that had a crush on you," he chuckled, "What was her name…Chris…Christina. Christina…Christina Larson. Maybe she can remember what happened."

"How do you even know if she's still alive?" Adam asked, a little concerned that a girl had a crush on him. Was he some type of pedophile? He didn't really want to ask, because he didn't really want the answer.

"She was about eight," Sam shrugged his shoulders, "It's a long-shot, I know. She'd be in her hundreds now…but…well…"

"It's the only shot we got," Dean nodded his head and looked at Prue, "Think you can get Andy on it? Maybe the police can track her down."

Prue nodded her head, as Sam bit his lip nervously, "I just hope she's forgotten what I did to her doll," he said, before looking at Adam again, "You're gonna need to be there, just in case."

* * *

The long shot had paid off. It was Darryl, in the end, who had managed to track Christina Larson down, and she wasn't in a grave somewhere. The 103-year-old was alive, and in a retirement home across the city. Rather than panicking the woman, Sam and Phoebe went along with Adam and Leo. The others remained at the Manor to see if they could find anything else out about their past lives from the Book of Shadows.

"My dolly!" Christina said from her wheelchair, looking directly at Sam. There was fear in her eyes, as she pointed a shaking hand, "You broke my dolly!"

"No, no, that wasn't me," Sam shook his head, kneeling down on the floor in front of the elderly woman, "It was just someone that looked like me. Sort of. It's…It's hard to explain."

Christina shook her head, and then looked up at Adam. A smile formed on her face, "You fixed her for me."

"She recognizes your souls," Leo said to the two brothers, "That's a good sign."

"So, now you just need to let her know you're the good Sam, not the bad one." Adam shrugged, as if it would be the easiest thing in the world.

"I'll never forgive them for what they did to you." Christina now said to Adam, trying to ignore the fact that Sam and Phoebe were in the room. The witches frowned, as Sam looked up at Adam.

"I think you might be better speaking to her for us."

The problem for Adam was that he had no idea what to ask her about. Sam and Phoebe had been the ones in the past. But they needed to save his brother and cousin, and this was the best option right now. Kneeling down by the wheelchair, Sam stood and stepped back.

"You don't have to be afraid of them anymore," Adam explained, "They won't hurt you and they're not gonna hurt you. Ms. Larson, we need your help."

Sam knelt down again, this time getting Christina to look at him, "Ms. Larson, do you remember when you were a little girl, back in 1920? You used to go to a speakeasy that was run by three cousins. Do you remember that?"

The elderly woman nodded her head, a warm smile forming on her face. It was like she was back there, as she told them how her daddy was the bartender, and he would take her there after picking her up from school. The piano was her favorite part of the whole thing, especially the singing.

"Mr. Baxter was so good," she smiled, before singing the song that had popped up in her head, " _If you were the only girl in the world, and I…_ "

Adam touched the woman's hand gently, pulling her back to reality, "The man that looked like Sam, do you remember him?"

Christina gripped Adam's hand, shaking in fear as she looked at Sam, "He was an evil witch. I used to hide upstairs by the landing and I saw everything."

"Did you see anything happen to the evil witch?" Adam now asked, and Christina couldn't help but touch Adam's face. She looked into his brown eyes lovingly.

"They didn't do it soon enough, the good witches," tears dropped down her cheeks, "He'd already killed you. Both the bad witches did."

"What didn't they do soon enough?" Phoebe asked, a frown forming on her face, "What happened?"

"It was so scary," Christina shook her head, her eyes still locked with Adam. He refused to look away, realizing that he was helping to encourage her to talk, "Fire and screaming. You were murdered," Christina looked at Sam and then at Phoebe, "And then you two were punished for what you did. They killed you."

"Who killed us?" Sam asked, "Did you see? Was Anton involved?"

"It was such a pretty necklace and ring," Christina said, trailing off with her thoughts, as she looked away from Adam, "Just ripped it off the bad witches and then strangled them."

"Who strangled the evil witches?" Leo asked, hoping that they'd get the answers they needed. Instead, Christina cried out and let go of Adam's face. The thought of the dolly came back, making Sam feel guilty for everything his past life had done.

"I'm so sorry."

With that, the four left the elderly woman, Sam leading the way out of the nursing home. He looked at one of the nurses, before turning to Phoebe, "Well, at least we don't need to worry about ending up in a place like this."

"We have time to figure out what happened," Adam chastised his brother, "There's no way Dean and Prue would let anything happen to you two."

"There's not much time left," Phoebe hated to admit that Sam was right about this, "By midnight, we'll both be dead again."

"Midnight? How do you know that?" Adam asked, concern in his voice. He started to wonder whether they were figuring out more about their past lives.

"Midnight, a full moon, what's the difference?" Phoebe shrugged her shoulders, almost defeated after reaching another dead end. They knew they were murdered by someone, but had no idea who. To make matters worse, they murdered Adam first. They deserved it, "It's always one or the other, right? We won't see February 7th, whatever it is."

"So, let's go back to the past again," Sam shrugged his shoulders, refusing to believe that it was all over, "Let's find some more answers."

* * *

Dean, Prue and Piper hadn't found out anything else while the others went to the nursing home. Dean had contacted Bobby and other hunters he knew he could trust, but wasn't getting anywhere. Nobody had heard of past lives attacking, or how to deal with it.

While they looked through everything, the doorbell rang. Prue was the one to answer it, as Dean rang people and Piper looked through various books on the subject of magic and past lives. When she did open it, she instantly regretted it, seeing her hunter neighbor on the other side, "You're not welcome here."

Prue tried to close the door, but Dan quickly threw his hand out, "Please, I need your help."

"We're not in the habit of helping our enemies." Prue was about to close the door again, as Dean hung up on his latest call and walked towards the front door to help get rid of the hunter. Once he saw him, Dan locked eyes with the hunter-witch, knowing that this would mean a lot more to him.

"Jenny's been possessed," he could see Dean wasn't bothered at first, but he would be soon, "The demon had yellow eyes."

Dean looked at Dan, his poker face dropping for a second. His green eyes filled with fear, and Prue couldn't help but look back at her cousin with the same fear in her blue eyes. Facing Yellow Eyes was bad enough, but for him to possess their 16-year-old neighbor meant even more trouble.

"You'd better come in." Prue turned back to Dan, holding the door open for him to walk into the house. This was getting more complicated.

* * *

Sam had raced home with Phoebe, Adam and Leo in the car. They needed to work as quickly as possible. It was already too late to really do any more research.

Pulling into the driveway, Adam didn't even wait for Sam to put the car into park. He jumped out of the car and rushed into the Halliwell-Winchester Manor, closely followed by Leo, Phoebe and then Sam. They definitely weren't expecting to see Dean and Dan sitting at the dining table, talking over a couple of beers.

"What's he doing here?" Adam asked, frowning as he motioned to the hunter with his head. Piper and Prue stepped out of the kitchen with mugs of coffee, as Dean explained about the Yellow-Eyed Demon possessing Jenny.

"Dan's just catching us up on everything he knows." Dean explained.

"Which isn't that much." Piper wasn't impressed that the man was in her house. It didn't matter how she felt, though. This was important. It was no longer about revenge for Mary Winchester, but protecting the whole family from a demon out for his own revenge.

"How did it go at the nursing home?" Prue asked, realizing that the others didn't really want to talk with a hunter around.

"We need to use the spell again," Phoebe admitted with a deep sigh, "Christina could only tell us so much."

"Apparently they kill me." Adam folded his arms, with an unimpressed look towards Sam.

"Just before we get killed ourselves," Sam pointed out, trying to not make them sound completely evil in front of the hunter they didn't trust, "She couldn't tell us who killed us though."

"So you don't know if it's that Anton guy?" Piper asked, biting her bottom lip nervously. All she wanted to do was save her sister and cousin.

"What's going on?" Dan asked, frowning as he looked between everyone in the room. It was clear that nobody wanted to say anything to him, but he was here, so he could help.

"Look, why don't we continue discussing Yellow Eyes and Jenny," Dean suggested, deciding that their family past life drama wasn't something for the hunter to get involved in, "They can sort this." Dean glanced at the two eldest female cousins, who both nodded their heads. This would definitely be the better way of dealing with this.

Dean led Dan into the sun room, where they could talk in private. It gave Phoebe and Sam the chance to get into the living room and find the past life spell again.

"Are you sure about this?" Prue asked them, seeing some doubt in their eyes.

"We don't have another choice, Prue." Sam admitted, before turning the page to the spell and getting himself comfortable.

"Whatever you do, make sure you get back before your past lives get killed," Leo warned them, "Otherwise we may not be able to wake you up."

"Don't worry. Dying is one experience I don't plan on reliving." Phoebe told him, thinking back to the experience when she ended up in the future. Why was it always her who ended up in these horrible situations?

" _Remove the chains of time and space_

 _And make my spirit sore._

 _Let these mortal arms embrace_

 _The life that haunts before."_

The two cousins collapsed either side of each other on the couch, the others not quick enough to make sure they landed with their heads on pillows. While they were out, Prue and Piper placed pillows under their heads, and could just wait and hope that they would get back in time.

***LINE BREAK HERE***

Phoebe and Sam hadn't ended up that far into the future from where they'd left their past lives. In fact, they were just moments after Sam had turned the fire into the dragon.

"Feels good to be bad, doesn't it?" Anton asked, looking between the siblings.

Sam clicked his neck to one side, a smirk on his face. It was clear that he loved it. Phoebe was the one that couldn't help but turn her head back to the Manor, "Sometimes."

"Second thoughts?"

"They're our cousins, Anton." Phoebe told him, making it clear that despite their hatred, her cousins still meant something to her.

"They're good witches, Pearl." Sam sighed, clearly having this conversation with his elder sister once already.

"And that is why you have your amulets. Pearl, your necklace and Patrick, your ring," Anton explained, pointing at the two items, "They'll protect you from their witchcraft, so they can never harm you."

Phoebe looked away from Anton, still uncertain about the situation. Anton grabbed her gently under the chin with his index finger, lifting her head to look into her eyes, "Hey, killing them is the only way for me and my sister to get their powers, and once I have them…together…we will be unstoppable."

Sam looked away as the two kissed passionately. Phoebe was back on the side to destroy the Warren line. Anton looked at him with a smirk when he pulled away, "You need to wait until I lure that cousin away from her piano man before making your moves. The others won't be as hard."

"How you gonna do that?" Sam asked, a frown forming. It was soon becoming clear that Piper would stick next to Dan's past life, but he couldn't quite work out why. Everything told him that Dan was mortal, so was Piper just trying to keep him safe in a house of witches?

"Easy, by posing as her former lover," Anton smirked before waving his hand in front of his face. He changed form into Leo, or at least a past version on him base on the year, "And fighting through her power. Shall we?"

"Let's." Phoebe took Sam's hand and they walked back into the house, Sam following behind.

Once back inside, the sound of a man singing the song Christina remembered could be heard throughout the house. Dan was busy playing the piano, with Piper watching nearby. Sam made his way to Adam first, and then Dean, getting them together, while Phoebe started walking to Prue, keeping an eye on her lover. Anton, who still looked just like Leo, walked into the hallway, getting Piper's attention.

Piper looked at her former lover in shock. Briefly glancing to make sure Dan hadn't seen, she rushed into the hallway, reaching out for Leo, "I thought you were dead. They told me…"

"Of course not." Leo told Piper, grabbing her sexually, but Piper fought her former lover off.

"Stop it, we can't do this anymore!" she told him, but Leo wasn't taking no for an answer this time, "We discussed this. What is the matter with you? This isn't like you."

"You're right. It's not." Leo said and then waved his hand in front of his face. Seeing him turn back to Anton, Piper tried to scream for help. Anton covered her mouth to stop her and then signalled to the evil siblings to get their cousins. Phoebe now got Prue's attention.

"Do you wanna talk now? Upstairs?"

Sam was already making his way to the stairs with Dean and Adam, as Prue started following Phoebe through the house. It was just then that Anton's grip loosened and Piper managed to get away. As she fell to the floor, the crowd nearby turned to face her. Dean, Adam and Prue all stopped to see the commotion.

Phoebe, realizing that the game was up, held out her hand and threw a fireball at her cousin. Prue blocked it easily, by blowing over her outstretched palm. An icy breath literally left her pursed lips, destroying the fire on the spot. As people started to run out of the house, the witches were knocked down. Adam and Dean were cut off from Sam.

It was left to Anton to try get Piper back under his hold. Reaching out, he tried to grab her, but Piper turned on him and flicked her wrists. The warlock slowed down, as if freezing, but he fought through it and managed to grab Piper by the neck, chocking her.

"I'm gonna like having that power." Anton told her, as Piper could just claw at the hands gripped around her neck.

While the commotion went on, young Christina rushed up the stairs to hide on the landing. Everyone else fled from the house, as Prue blew across the hallway to Phoebe. The ice would have hit the evil witch, had it not been for the necklace. The amulet absorbed the power, making Phoebe smirk, "How does it feel to be powerless against me."

Prue could only do one thing. She rushed to her camera and pulled on the trigger. The flashbang from it blinded Phoebe in that moment, giving Prue a chance to kick Phoebe, knocking her down.

While this went on, Dean could see that Piper was in grave danger. Leaving Adam, he rushed over and waved his hand. A pulse shot from his hand, hitting Anton in the back. While it didn't do the damage that he had hoped, it did knock Anton away from Piper. She was able to stand up and push the grandfather clock on top of the warlock.

Adam was left to face against Sam. Adam clapped his hands in front of him, sending a ripple across the room towards Sam. The amulet in his ring protected him from any damage, making Adam frown.

"Your powers can't hurt me anymore," Sam said with a smirk, "But mine can." With that, he stepped forward and rose his hands. The shape of a man formed from the smoke left from Prue's flashbang, and it turned on Adam. Adam tried to use his own sound pulse to stop the smoke, but it did nothing. The smoky figure grabbed Adam by the neck, strangling him.

"Pierce!" Piper held up her hands to try and freeze the creature in the house.

"You can't freeze my illusions," Sam laughed, "But stay there. You're next."

Dean held out his hand to fire off a pulse in the smoke's direction, but like Adam's power it had no effect. Dean and Piper couldn't even grab the creature.

Christina just watched as the smoke entered through Adam's nose and mouth, filling his lungs and choking him. Adam tried to fight it off, to stop the smoke, but it was no use. She watched his body drop to the floor, covering her mouth to prevent her from squealing. She couldn't let the bad witches know that she was here.

"Pierce!" Piper shouted again, rushing to the body. As the smoke started taking over her body, Dean rushed to Sam. He grabbed his hand, ripping the ring from it, harsh enough to leave a red scratch. Sam screamed, as Dean kicked him across the room. The smoke creature disappeared, and Piper was able to sit up, coughing from the smoke inhalation.

Dean grabbed Piper, helping her to stand, as Prue grabbed a rope from one of the curtains and wrapped it around Phoebe's neck. Holding the rope with one hand, she was able to grab the amulet necklace with the other. The necklace was flung across the room, right in front of Christina.

"We know Anton's a warlock," Piper coughed, "And Meg's a demon."

Prue pulled a slip of paper from the garter on her thigh, as Piper and Dean joined her.

"We know they've fallen in love with you...at least, that's what you think.

"They've turned you evil," Prue finished, "And we can't have you joining forces. Not in this life. Not in any life."

"God forgive us." Dean whispered, as they all read from the slip of paper.

" _Evil witches in my sight,_

 _Vanquish thyself. Vanquish thy might._

 _In this and every future life."_

* * *

With a sudden gasp, Phoebe and Sam sat up from their sleep on the couch, both grabbing their chests. Phoebe took one glance at her sisters, and backed away from them. Frowning, Prue followed her but it was clear Phoebe didn't trust her, "Phoebe, what?"

"You!" She shouted, pointing her fingers at her two sisters and then looked at Dean, "You were the one that killed us."

Sam looked at each of them but then glanced at Adam, "After I killed you."

* * *

Phoebe made her way to her room as quickly as possible, feeling her sisters on her heels. She couldn't believe what she'd witnessed in the past. She'd really believed that a demon had been after her, but instead it was her sisters—no her cousins in that time.

"You know we'd never hurt you." Piper shouted, as she followed her baby sister up the stairs.

"No?" Phoebe shouted, turning back to them as she walked into her room, "Tell that to past Phoebe. You cursed her. You cursed me."

To tell the truth, that wasn't what bothered Phoebe more. It was the fact that she was evil. She'd tried to kill her family first. She would have done if they weren't ready for her and stronger than her. Sam was struggling downstairs with the idea that he'd killed his own brother—his past life had killed his cousin but it was still his brother.

Phoebe wasn't sure how Sam felt, but for her it was scary. She'd felt just how seductive and powerful it felt to be evil. What it that was who she was? What if she was good to start and fell in love with a warlock, leading to her becoming evil? That could happen this time around. Maybe it was right for her sisters—her cousins then—to curse her past life and all future lives.

Of course, her sisters weren't going to let her die. She had until midnight to live, but there was still the chance of her turning evil. She needed to do something first.

"Anton was...is immortal," Phoebe explained, as the Winchester brothers made their way up the stairs, Sam at the back with a grave look on his face, "I guess that's why they—you—thought he and Phoebe were soul mates."

"So, Anton is still alive?" Prue clarified, earning a nod from Phoebe.

"Right now the more immediate question is how we protect you and Sam," Adam spoke up, looking towards Leo to see if he had any ideas, "Then we can deal with Anton."

"The amulets could protect us," Sam suggested, glancing at Phoebe, "Maybe Christina knows where it is."

"She's over 100, Sammy," Dean shook his head, "From what you said, she's struggling to remember what she had for her breakfast."

"But she remembers that day." Sam pointed out.

Prue shook her head, deciding that it would be better to check the Book of Shadows. Phoebe and Sam glanced at each other, both with the same idea. They could let the others check their Book, while they checked with the one person who was still alive from that night. As the four witches left for the attic, Sam quickly grabbed Leo's attention.

"I think you should come with us to the retirement home."

"What about your brothers?" Leo asked, with a frown. Looking between the two cousins, he knew that they were up to something.

"If we don't find the amulets, we're gonna die. They can't be with us to see that." Sam shook his head, leaving it closed for discussion.

***LINE BREAK HERE***

Dean knew that if Anton was around, he'd be looking for Phoebe. But that was the least of their problems right now. They knew they needed to save Sam and Phoebe from certain death.

As Prue started to turn the large pages of the Book of Shadows, the sound of the front door slamming echoed around the house. All four witches looked and frowned at each other.

"Where's Leo?" Piper asked, suddenly realizing that he wasn't with them.

* * *

In the retirement home, Christina sat in her wheelchair, looking out of her room window. She didn't even move or respond when Sam, Phoebe and Leo walked into the room.

"Christina? It's Sam. I'm sorry to bother you again, but I need your help with something really important," crossing the room, Sam knelt in front of the wheelchair, still not getting a response from the woman. He worried that it meant she wouldn't be able to tell him anything, but he needed to find out anything right now, "I need you to remember back to the day the bad witches died, and the necklace and ring that were ripped off. Do you remember that day."

When Christina didn't answer, Phoebe walked to stand behind her cousin, "Please, Christina. I...I know this is difficult, but please try. Our lives depend on it."

Leo now stood behind Sam, his face remaining soft, "Do you remember what happened to the necklace and ring, Christina?"

Christina finally looked at Sam, nodding her head, "I was up on the landing, watching the whole scary thing. The ring...he...the good witch took it."

Sam knew that, he'd remembered Dean ripping it off his finger. He'd felt the pain from the scratch.

"The necklace?" Phoebe asked, hoping that she could tell them something about it. Maybe the necklace could be wrapped around both of them when it came to midnight it would help.

"It...It...It just slid across the floor into the foyer." Christina said, making Phoebe sigh and walk towards the door. They were never going to find it now. Leo followed the older witch, but Sam stopped them. Maybe there was hope. Maybe Phoebe could write a spell that would allow them to go back and have full control over their bodies. They'd be able to grab the amulets, hide them somewhere safe and then come back.

"They only way you could do something like that would be to switch with your past lives," Leo explained, "You'd be stuck in 1919 and your past lives would be here."

It would give them time to get the amulets, but it would also mean they risked unleashing two evil witches into the current world; evil witches that had soul mates out there. Nobody had mentioned this Meg to Piper, Prue, Dean, Adam and Leo yet. Sam and Phoebe didn't even know who this Meg character was.

"If we don't do anything, we'll die," Phoebe pointed out, "We have to find the amulets."

With that, Phoebe grabbed a pen and started writing down a spell. Leo quickly pointed out that the cousins back then would believe Phoebe and Sam were the evil siblings from that time, but it didn't matter. They needed to do this.

"You worry too much, Leo," Phoebe smirked at the former whitelighter, "You're mortal now. You'll get wrinkles."

As Sam chuckled, Phoebe finished the spell and laid on the bed. Sam joined her and looked at the white piece of paper, Phoebe's neat handwriting penned across it.

" _In this time and in this place,_

 _Take the spirits we displace._

 _Bring them fourth while we go back,_

 _To inhabit two souls so black."_

Leo watched as their faces flashed purple, and both went into a deep sleep.

* * *

They returned to the time that Phoebe was being strangled by Past Prue. Dean had just ripped the ring from Sam's finger.

"Wait!" Sam shouted, taking control of his past body, "I'm not...we're not..."

"Grr..." Phoebe growled, before kicking her leg upwards to connect with Prue. She then flipped over her older sister, and got up from the floor. Sam quickly grabbed Dean's arm, bending it backwards and tackling him to the ground. In that position, he could grab his ring back.

"Where'd she learn that?" Piper coughed, "Where'd they both learn that?"

"I don't know." Piper frowned, as Phoebe rushed over to Sam. They had one amulet, but now needed the other. The two got to work on searching for the necklace, as Dean and Piper joined Prue, holding onto his arm.

"Why are they running? Why aren't they using their powers?" Dean asked, frowning as he watched the two evil witches.

"It's probably a trap to lure us into."

* * *

Back in the present day, Leo shook Phoebe to see if she was okay. He looked across at Sam, seeing his eyes flutter, "Are you there?"

While Leo checked, he missed Christina standing from her wheelchair and walking over to her jewelry box. Opening it, she spoke, "Here... there...everywhere."

Opening the jewelry box, Christina pulled out the necklace, followed by the ring. Leo looked over at the old woman, confused at her sudden change in character. As he walked over to her, Christina waved her hand in front of her face, turning into Anton, who had an evil grin on his face.

Anton grabbed Leo, before pushing him into the bathroom door. Under the force from the warlock, Leo crashed through the door, and landed hard on the bathroom floor. His head hit the floor, knocking him out. If he'd remained conscious, he would have seen the real Christina tied up and gagged in her real wheelchair.

The warlock made his way over to Phoebe, singing,"If you were the only girl in the world, and I were the only boy..." Placing the amulet around Phoebe's neck, he kissed her gently, "Wake up, my sweet."

Phoebe woke up from her sleep, and looked around at her new surroundings, instantly confused by them. She had no idea how she had managed to end up here. Before Anton could say anything, the dark-haired demon, Meg, shimmered in on Sam's side of the bed, running her hand through his hair, "You too, sweet cheeks."

Sam's eyes fluttered open, with the same confused look on his face. Anton just smirked, holding up the ring with the protective amulet, "I think you dropped something."

"Anton? What's going on?" Phoebe asked, knowing that this wasn't right. The last thing she remembered, she was going to die. Her necklace had been ripped off, and her cousins had the upper hand.

"It's okay, Pearl," Anton soothed, "You're safe. You've been reincarnated. Reborn."

"Both of you."

* * *

Back in 1920, Phoebe and Sam continued to hunt around for the necklace. They were so busy looking, that they didn't realize Dean had snuck up on them, and grabbed Sam once more. The ring was ripped from his hand, and thrown to the other side of the dining room. Now they would have two amulets to find.

Sam's new training instincts took over after the first attack. He grabbed Dean's collar and threw him to the ground, landing on top of him to keep him steady, "I'm not who you think I am. I'm a different me."

"We're from another lifetime, where we're good," Phoebe joined in, looking at the two female witches heading her way, "We're sisters now. Happy sisters."

"Must have cut off too much blood to her brain." Prue rolled her eyes, refusing to believe this pitiful attempt to save herself.

"Screw this," Phoebe shook her head, "Sam, the spell."

 _In this time and in this place,_

 _Take the spirits we displace._

 _Bring us forth while they go back,_

 _To their souls so black."_

Expecting to go back, Sam had loosened his grip on Dean. Dean now had the chance to hold out one of his hands, using his pulse to push Sam off him. Sam flew through the air, hitting the wall just above the first few steps in the house.

"Uh oh!" Phoebe muttered, just as Prue blew across her outstretched palm. A breath of ice made its way towards Phoebe, but she was quick enough to duck so the ice hit the wall behind her. They were going to have to think on their toes.

* * *

Back in the present day, Prue, Piper, Dean and Adam had made it to the retirement home and got help. Christina's nurse was now there to check on her, and Piper checked on her now conscious ex-boyfriend.

"Is she okay?" Piper asked, looking across at her older sister.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Leo rolled his eyes, "That's for asking."

"Oh, you don't get any sympathy from me," Piper looked at him with an icy glare, "You should never have let Phoebe and Sam cast that spell!"

"Ms. Larson, can we get you anything else?" Adam offered, and smiled at the request of some JELL-O. It made the witches step back, as they realized that she had no idea what had gone on. It would make sense if Anton knew Phoebe would come here all along. The problem now was Phoebe and Sam were stuck in 1919, and the evil versions were stuck in their present day selves. And only Phoebe knew the return spell.

"We now need to get the amulets off them, too." Dean pointed out. It would be the only way to send them back to the past.

"But only long enough for Phoebe and Sam to get back here. They need to be wearing their amulets in the present to protect them from the past life curse.

There was now only one place for them to go; one place that Anton would have taken Phoebe and Sam. They needed to get back to the Manor; to the place they tried to kill them the first time.

* * *

When they reached the Manor, it was quiet; too quiet. Piper couldn't help but question whether they'd got it right.

"They're here, somewhere." Prue shook her head at her younger sister, looking around and ready for a fight. As they stepped into the living room, they saw Sam sitting in a chair, holding Meg's hand. Across from them was Phoebe on the couch, with Anton standing behind her.

"Didn't I tell you they'd come?" Meg smirked, standing from the chair arm to look directly at Dean, "Hello again, hot shot."

Dean frowned, glaring at the demon in front of him. Adam growled and with a sneer said, "Meg."

"You know them?" Sam asked, looking between the witches and his demon lover.

"You could say that," Meg smirked, "Gave me a run. You really do know how to hide your true identity. Tell me, does your family even know the real you?"

Dean scoffed at the comment, "I don't need to lie to them."

Flicking his wrist, he tried to freeze her, but she just laughed, holding up an amulet that looked just like Phoebe's.

"Your powers won't work on me, princess," she shook her head and then waved her hand. Dean flew backwards, hitting the wall under the stairs. He slid down the wall, crashing on the table next to it, "But mine will work on you."

Phoebe laughed as she stood and threw a fireball at her sisters. Piper gasped, freezing it mid-air, just as Prue ducked behind a wall. Adam pulled Piper, out of the line of fire.

"We need to get the amulets off them all." Adam pointed out the obvious.

"Any idea how?" Piper asked, just as the fireball unfroze and hit the wall just above where Dean was now groaning from.

* * *

Meanwhile, in 1920, Phoebe had ended up in the clutches of her cousins once more. This time she could do little to fight them off, and felt her life slipping between her fingers. She could just about see Sam get overpowered by Dean's pulsing power, his anger helping him win over the witch not from this time.

Phoebe could think of one thing...just hope that she could get back into her body.

" _In this time and in this place..."_

* * *

The four witches in the present day Manor had quickly come up with a plan. Well, three had and Dean could just hope that he would go along with it. As Phoebe and Anton walked forward towards Dean, Sam and Meg made their way to the hiding place of the three witches. Phoebe released Anton's hand, standing over Dean. All he did was look up at them with a grin.

"What are you grinning for? You'll be dead soon." Phoebe frowned.

"I don't think so," Dean shook his head and then looked behind the witch and warlock, "Now!"

Prue rushed away from the wall, towards Phoebe, making her turn around. As Phoebe fired off her fireball, Prue held out her hand. The fireball redirected towards Meg, who quickly shimmered out. It gave Dean the chance to tackle Phoebe to the ground, getting the amulet off of her. Seeing Meg leave and Phoebe overpowered, Anton snarled, "I'll be back for you, my love," and he blinked out of the Manor. Anton leaving was the last thing Phoebe saw before she passed out from a knock on her head during the fall with Dean's weight on top of her.

Meanwhile, Adam jumped up and tackled Sam to the ground, locking his right arm up in the air. It gave Piper the chance to pull the ring from her finger.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in 1920, the real Sam, in his past life's body, felt his life slipping through his fingers. Across the room from him, Phoebe had been tackled to the ground by the past lives of her sisters, and they were slowly draining the life from her.

He had just enough to help finish the spell, just hoping that it would be enough.

" _While they go back to their souls so black."_

* * *

As Phoebe's face flashed purple, her eyes opened and she looked directly at her cousin, "Dean!"

"Adam, thank God!" Sam gasped, making the other witches look at each other. Was this a trick? They didn't have time to even guess. Adam and Dean quickly gave the amulets back, hoping that they had the right versions of their Phoebe and Sam.

The amulets glowed bright red, as if trapping magic that had been thrown their way. Once they stopped glowing, Sam placed his hand on the ring and sighed with relief.

"It's okay," he nodded, "It's worked."

Prue and Piper rushed to their little sister, hugging her tightly. Phoebe hugged them back, grateful for everything, "Thank you guys…for saving my life. All of them."

* * *

The next morning, after Piper, Phoebe, Dean, Adam and Sam said goodbye to Prue and Andy, so they could officially leave on their honeymoon, the five witches and Leo sat together. There was a lot to talk about. In fact, that had been all they'd done all night.

Dean played with the cup of coffee in his hand, a deep frown on his face. Sam smirked at him, "Don't think too hard. You'll hurt yourself." He nudged his big brother, who looked up like a deer caught in headlights.

"What were you thinking about anyway?" Adam asked, chuckling at his brother's face.

Dean shook his head, unwilling to tell them just now. Finding out that Jo had been pregnant by him in another life was too close to home. His brothers and cousins would have a field day when they found out that Jo was currently pregnant.

"Don't worry about that affair," Phoebe assumed the issue, "You weren't the only one here who had an affair."

Piper, Dean and Adam looked at each other, and then shook their heads. It was Piper who spoke up, "Prue?"

"Oh no!" Phoebe laughed at the idea of that, "It would be you, dear sister."

"Me? I…No…"

"With Leo." Sam nodded his head, glancing over at his former whitelighter. Leo went bright red, but it was soon clear that he knew all about Piper's affair; about his own past life. Adam couldn't help but laugh.

"I guess it ran in your family line," he commented, earning a glare from Piper.

"When we become whitelighters, we're given the chance to look over our past lives," Leo explained, uncomfortably, "Learn from mistakes we've made in the past."

"I…What does it mean?" Piper asked, looking at Phoebe and Sam for some help. The two shrugged, and it was Leo who answered.

"Well, I'd like to think it means, uh, we're destined to be together."

Frowning, Dean stood up at that moment. It caught the others off guard, and Phoebe looked at him shocked, "Where are you going?"

"I'm…well…there's something I need to take care of." Dean replied, before walking out of the house, leaving his brothers and cousins guessing.

"Do you think it's Jo?" Adam asked, the curiosity getting the better of him. It all seemed to fit together, and there was definitely something going on with him. When Sam shrugged, the conversation moved back to the past—how their lives were all joined together. Piper remained quiet, and Leo couldn't help but notice that. All she could think about was her past life's relationship with Leo. What could it mean?

There was still something that needed discussing right now. Sam turned to Phoebe, "We'd better put a warning in the Book of Shadows about Anton. He's not gone, and you never know if he will come back."

"You're right," Phoebe agreed, "And Meg. We don't want our future lives getting mixed up with the two of them. Although, it won't do much good if future me turns out to be bad."

"Well, the past just goes to show we all have a little bad in us," Adam smirked, "Who'da thought Sam would turn out to be evil in a past life?"

* * *

As for Dean, he wasn't going to see Jo. Before his daughter was born, there was one issue he desperately needed to take care of, and there was someone who would want to take care of it, too.

Knocking on the door, Dean didn't even care if the person in question was awake, alone or anything. When the door opened, he looked straight into the eyes of his neighbor, Dan. He didn't completely trust him, but right now they had a common enemy.

"Let's get this Yellow Eyed son of a bitch and save your niece." Dean simply stated, not leaving it up for debate.

 **Guest Cast List**

Dorian Gregory as Darryl

Greg Vaughn as Dan

Karis Paige Bryant as Jenny/Yellow Eyed Demon

Tyler Christopher as Anton

Rachel Miner as Meg

Cindy Sampson as Lisa's past life

Daveigh Chase as Young Christina

Jeanette Miller as Old Christina

 **There we are, the end of another episode. Just a reminder about the guest list, they're to remind you of who played the characters in the original shows because that's how I'm imagining them (Meg I'm putting her straight into her second body because I preferred Rachel Miner playing her). I know the children will be too old for their roles now (it's been 16 years since Charmed's Pardon My Past aired!) but it's just so you can put a face to the character easily.**


	14. Episode 14: The Soul Will Go On

**Hi everyone. I know, I didn't upload last week. Honestly, sticking to a schedule right now is just impossible but I'll try to stick to it as much as possible.**

 **Thank you for the reviews on the last chapter. Here's the latest one and it's a version of Supernatural's Crossroad Blues...I know one many of you have been waiting for.**

Episode 14: My Soul Will Go On

Back in 1938, a young black man sat on a wooden stool on a small stage. He head remained down, a cigarette dangling loose from his lips, as he played the guitar in his hand. For Robert Johnson, this was the life. It was all he'd ever wanted, but he knew his time was coming to an end.

Something no-one else knew was that the Hellhounds were coming for him. They were coming for him that night. He tried to ignore that niggling feeling, concentrating on the beauty sat at the front of the crowd that had gathered around for his performance. But even the music and her beauty couldn't stop him from hearing the growling from outside. It was the distinct growl of a dog, and then there was the harsh barking.

When a dark shape crossed the window, Robert knew that it was time. But he didn't feel good about it. He started to regret everything that he'd done in the year previous. Now that it was time, he wanted another day; another week or another month. He just wanted more time to live life and enjoy it.

The barking got closer, and the cigarette dropped from Robert's mouth. He could no longer play the guitar. Clutching it, he stood and bolted from the room. The sound of others following him were just behind him, but their footsteps didn't mask the sound of the paws from the dogs outside; the dogs he knew were coming for him.

Robert fled from the saloon and made it to his house. It was a small wooden house, but it was a place he called his own. Part of him hoped that it would keep him safe; that the door would keep them out. But he knew that it wasn't possible. They were coming for him, and that was it.

The scratching and clawing at his door told him that the dogs were just outside. The hounds ready to drag his body to hell. At least, that's what he believed. Whether he would go to hell or not was another question.

The fighting instinct was still in him. He'd do anything to save his own life. Grabbing a wooden chair, he pushed it against the door, just hoping that it would help to keep them out. Backing away from the door, Robert could feel his whole body trembling. The fear had taken over, as he sunk to the floor and prayed. He prayed as he'd never prayed before, hoping with everything he had that it wouldn't come true; that the deal wouldn't be finalized tonight.

As the rattling at the door got louder, Robert's fear grew. He couldn't stop the shaking, as he watched the hinges on the door break. The door slammed to the floor, and then he saw them. Three of them, ready for him. Their mouths were foaming, and their eyes were bright red; as red as the creature that had made the deal with him so long ago. Their fur was tattered, blood and cuts everywhere. If they weren't from hell, he didn't know where they were from. It would be too scary to think about.

The three large dogs stepped forward, growling at him. It was all over. There was no turning back now. They were here to drag him to hell.

* * *

In present day San Francisco, a young lawyer, Madison, sat in P3x2, surrounded by her work friends. Drinks were flowing and they were busy chatting before Nate, one of Madison's colleagues, walked—more like stumbled—over.

"Hey, Maddie," Nate slurred, making Madison turn around with a soft smile on her face, "Listen, I hate to pull you away, but I'm gonna need you to come back to the office with me."

This wasn't the first time Nate had tried this, but it didn't bother Madison that much. He was a harmless young man and brilliant attorney. She just smirked, looking at him, "Really?"

"Yeah," Nate said, glancing at her smirking friends. They would all say something about this tomorrow at work, "Turns out I've gotta file some docs by midnight…"

"Midnight?" Madison clarified with a question, knowing it was way past the bewitching hour. Nate tried for a second long, before giving up.

"This isn't working at all, is it?"

"No, it's not, Nate." Madison admitted, laughing at the situation. Nate just nodded his head, before asking for a lift. He'd clearly had too much. In fact, Madison already knew that, and knew what was coming, "I already called you a cab. I'll see you in the morning."

As Nate left, Madison couldn't help but crack up at his attempt. But her smile faded slightly as she spotted a man with a surly look on his face just across the room from them. He drank his beer, watching their table with a serious look on her face.

"You okay?" One of her friends asked, making Madison turn away from the man. By the time she turned back, he was gone; as if it had all been in her imagination. The feeling deep down told her that it definitely wasn't, "I've gotta go."

Grabbing her bag, Madison made her way out of the club and to her car in the parking lot. The man in the bar had left her feeling uneasy, and all she wanted to do was get home and lock herself in her apartment.

The sound of something crashing behind her made her jump. Looking back, she sighed with relief to find nothing there. Just a trashcan being knocked over somewhere. There wasn't anyone behind her. Madison made it to her car and was able to drive away, not seeing the man from the bar watching her from the shadows.

It would be the next morning that Madison would feel the same uneasiness. Walking into her office building, she knew something was off. She wasn't the first to walk in, but that was normal. What wasn't normal was the lack of sound from the person who usually was first. Nate would be singing whatever song he'd gotten stuck in that head if it was a normal day. Not hearing that gave her no choice but to walk through to his office. The scent of blood instantly hit her. She'd never smelt so much before, but knew that it was that. And whoever the blood belonged to wasn't going to be in any state to talk or call for help.

Spotting a trail of blood by one of the doors, Madison covered her mouth. It led straight to Nate's office. Pushing the door gently, she almost gagged at the sight. Nate—or what was left of him—laid back in his chair, his face contorted in one of pain. His chest had been ripped apart, with blood all over the place.

Madison couldn't have told anyone what she did next. All she could do was stare in shock and distress at the sight of the man who had only last night tried to get her to go home with him.

* * *

Opening Credits

* * *

"So, architect Sean Boyden plummeted to his death from the roof of his home, a condominium he designed." Prue said, walking through the Halliwell-Winchester Manor. She'd only been back from her honeymoon for two days, and was already dealing with possible Supernatural occurrences.

"Build a high-rise and jump off the top of it. That's classy." Phoebe rolled her eyes, taking a mouthful of the coffee as she made herself comfortable on the couch. Prue smirked at her youngest sister, as she sat on the couch next to her, keeping the newspaper open on the page.

Dean stepped in, pulling his jacket on, "Did you say he called animal control?"

"Yeah, erm, two days before he jumped," Prue nodded, "Complained of black dogs."

The type of animal caught his attention, making him stop playing with the collar of his blue jacket, "He actually said black dog?"

"That's what the research said, Dean," Prue nodded her head, "A vicious, wild, black dog. Authorities couldn't find it, though, and nobody else saw it."

"Like a wild dog would have gotten past the doorman in that place," Phoebe snorted, "Then take the elevator up and start roaming the halls. It's the cushiest joint in town."

"Well, there were no more calls after that and he didn't show up for work," Prue clarified, deciding to ignore her sister's attempt at humor, "It was after that he took the swan dive. Are you okay, Dean?"

Phoebe now looked up at her cousin to see the worry clear on his face, "Black dog. There's lore on them, and not good lore. Most say they're animal spirits, but some see them as death omens."

Shaking off the thoughts, Dean mentioned work and headed out the door. Prue frowned, glancing over at her sister, "Did he seem off to you?"

"He's been off since your honeymoon," Phoebe shrugged her shoulders, "I think he and Jo are fighting or something. He's been outta the house a lot."

* * *

What they didn't know was that Dean had been seeing someone else; and not in that way. Every morning, before heading to work, Dean would call in next door to see what Dan had learned or if there was any new information about the Yellow-Eyed Demon. Over the last week and a half, Jenny hadn't been seen and Dan could only assume that Azazel was taking her for a "ride." Trying to keep it from her parents was the hardest part, but Dean had promised that he would save the innocent girl while getting rid of the demon for good.

This morning the conversation was a little different, though. The news of black dogs was now playing on his mind.

"You 'kay, man?" Dan asked with a frown, deepening it as Dean shook his head.

"How much do you know about black dog lore?"

"Black dogs?" Dan asked, screwing his nose up, "Not much. They're the death omens, right?"

"Or spirit dogs," Dean shrugged his shoulders, "Depends on the lore."

"What's brought this up?" Dan now asked, before Dean was leaving to get to work.

"Just…just something that someone said," Dean shook his head, "It's probably nothing and I'm just expecting more demons now that Yellow Eyes has taken over your niece. Look, I've gotta get to work, man. Call me if there's anything else?"

"Sure thing." Dan agreed, watching Dean leave. As Dean climbed into the Impala, he couldn't help but think about black dogs. He couldn't help but feel it a little coincidental that black dogs turn up when Yellow Eyes was getting closer.

* * *

If there was one thing that Darryl hated about his job, it was the looking at some of the state bodies were left in. It was especially worse now knowing that not everything was normal. Luckily, he had his trusty partner back by his side after over a week off work for his honeymoon.

"Do you know what bit him?" Andy asked, as Darryl just stared at the stitches running along the man's chest, stomach, shoulders and throat. He'd seen those cuts wide open earlier this morning.

"I haven't quite determined that just yet." The doctor said, but Andy and Darryl looked at each other.

"Off the record?" Andy now asked, knowing that it was a way to get possible causes of deaths when it came to the strangest of cases. The doctors had also gotten used to Andy and Darryl asking for off the record theories, so would happily dish up.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say the guy was attacked by a wolf," the doctor sighed, looking between the two detectives, "but unless I know the zoo is missing one of their lobos, I'm going with bit pull. I know you two love your X-file cases, but i like my job."

Darryl chuckled, with a nod of his head, "Yeah, I hear ya. Just one more question. This guy—was his heart missing?"

Andy frowned at his partner, but waited for the doctor's answer. When it was confirmed, Andy's frown deepened. How did Darryl know to ask about that before the doctor's report was even finished?

Walking out of the coroner's office, Andy finally turned on his partner, "Okay, how did you know to ask about the heart?"

"Sam had called me earlier," Darryl explained, "He was a bit concerned about the news, so wanted me to check about missing hearts."

Andy nodded his head, with a sigh, "He thinks it's a supernatural problem, doesn't he?" There wasn't the requirement for an answer. Darryl's grave look said everything.

* * *

"Remind me again why I'm here?" Piper asked, following Phoebe through the apartment complex. They dressed in suits, ready to play their roles.

"Prue wanted me to follow this up." Phoebe shrugged her shoulders, heading for the meeting room to meet the man they had the interview with. Piper looked at her and frowned.

"So, why am I here?"

Phoebe shrugged her shoulders, looking at her sister sheepishly, "I wanted some backup, okay? Dean's still acting cagey and has work. Prue has work. Sam and Adam have classes, so it leaves you."

Piper was just about to respond, when they finally got to the room. The owner of the complex was already there, pouring himself a cup of coffee. Phoebe cleared her throat, catching the man's attention. He quickly put his mug of coffee down, holding out his hand for her to take.

"Hi, I'm Phoebe and this is my colleague Piper," Phoebe lied effortlessly, surprising her sister. She'd definitely had some practice at this, "We're doing a tribute to Mr. Boyden for Architectural Digest..."

The man couldn't help but laugh, making Piper frown. Why would this be funny? "Oh, Sean always got the tributes. He kills himself, leave me and his family behind...well, he gets another tribute."

"Right," Piper bit her bottom lip nervously, feeling completely out of place, not really understanding why her sister had dragged her here, "Any idea why he'd do such a thing?"

"I, I have no clue," the man shrugged his shoulders, "I mean, he lived a charmed life."

Phoebe couldn't help but laugh at the remark. If only he knew what the word charmed meant to them. While she giggled, Piper continued trying to dig for more information. Phoebe did feel a little guilty, not having time to tell her sister about the dogs that this man had apparently seen.

"He was a flat-out genius," the man continued, "I mean, I'm capable but next to him, I...and it wasn't always that way, either."

"No?" Phoebe frowned, hearing the sudden change in the man's voice. She couldn't help but deepen her frown as the man shared a time Sean wasn't even able to design a pup tent. It was as if magic he gained all this talent.

"Hell, it was ten years ago," the man laughed with a shake of his head, "He was working as a bartender at this place called Lloyds. A complete dive."

"So, what changed?" Phoebe quickly pulled out a small notepad, making some notes so she could take them back to her eldest sister. It wasn't until now that she really felt like this was something supernatural.

"You got me. Overnight he gets this huge commission and he starts designing..." the man still had a look of awe on his face after all this time, "It was like he was Van Gogh and Mozart..."

Suddenly, the man cut off, and Piper and Phoebe couldn't help but guess there was something else. They looked at each other, before encouraging the man to go on. Had he noticed something strange without realizing?

Instead, the man couldn't help but comment about how all the geniuses seem to die young. Those that have talent just end up throwing it all away. It left Phoebe feeling more certain that this was something supernatural. Maybe it wasn't a coincidence that the great died young.

* * *

After finding out that there were definitely hearts missing, Darryl and Andy turned to Sam and Adam for help. They'd both found they had a free hour in their day to meet with the inspectors to discuss the case. And it turned out that Sam had already done some research.

"This isn't the first person to turn up with a missing heart," Sam told the two inspectors gravely, "Just the first man."

"Oh, yeah, there was a string of prostitutes over the years," Andy now remembered some of the strange cases that he'd only heard about, "Harrison was on the case. Guess because it was a male this time..."

"And the victims didn't end up washed up in the bay." Darryl pointed out, reminding him that all the bodies had been too deteriorated to draw any conclusions about the cause of death. As they discussed the cases of the past, Sam cleared his through. All of them had missing hearts, and it wouldn't be long until a serial killer theory came out at the precinct.

"How do you know all this?" Adam asked, narrowing his eyes at his older brother.

"I've been doing some digging," Sam admitted, in front of the two inspectors, knowing that they wouldn't turn him in, "I borrowed Dean's laptop after reading a few reports. You see, the bodies all fit the lunar cycle."

"The lunar cycle?" Andy decided to ignore the fact that Sam was breaking the law. Right now it would really help them solve this case.

"All the murders happen in the days leading up to the full moon," Sam pointed out, "Which is this week."

Adam frowned, as he started putting two and two together, "Wait, do you think this is a werewolf? Oh that would be awesome!"

The three other men looked at Adam like he had two heads, but he soon clarified why he thought it was cool. Werewolves were badass in all the movies, if the movies were based on any reality. Of course, they'd recently found out that everything in the movies about vampires was completely wrong.

"So, how do you kill a werewolf?" Darryl asked, "Or is there a way to cure one?"

"Best thing to do is research," Adam shrugged his shoulders, "The movies say a silver bullet. I can call Bobby and see what he says, and see if there's a cure. I mean the majority of the time in a month, the werewolf is a human, right? An innocent to save?"

"Well, how about we take this one step at a time," Sam nodded in agreement. He did want to save the innocent, "We need to find out if there is a cure, and find out more about the attack."

"Well, we've got a meeting with the girl who found the body," Andy explained, "Maybe one of you with me and the other with Darryl?"

It was the perfect plan for them. All nodding in agreement, the four stood and got to work on finding the werewolf and dealing with it.

* * *

Jo had been worried for the last few days. She hadn't seen or heard from Dean, despite how protective he'd been lately. It meant something was wrong, and there was one person who might be able to help her.

Walking through the corridor of Bucklands, she smiled at the sight of Prue's office door. That was when her stomach filled with dread. Dean hadn't wanted to tell any of his brothers or cousins yet, and this could blow everything. Hesitating, Jo held her hand up to the door before finally getting the courage to actually knock. She needed to get to the bottom of Dean's behavior.

"Come in." Prue's voice called out from the other side of the door. It took a second longer than usual, but Jo opened the door and poked her head around with a nervous smile. Prue looked over her glasses at her, looking just like a school teacher, before smiling, "Jo, hey! C'min and sit down."

"Thanks, Prue." She sighed, closing the door behind her, before sitting at her desk. She waited there, with Prue looking at her expectedly. Did Prue want her to start right away? Clearly, she wanted to know why Dean's girlfriend—was she his girlfriend yet?—wanted to speak to her.

"So, what brings you here? Dean didn't tell me you were stopping by."

"Dean doesn't know," Jo admitted, "Actually, I haven't seen Dean for a few days. I just..."

Prue's face contorted into a frown, as she took in Jo's words, "What do you mean? He's been out a lot since I got back from my honeymoon. Phoebe said this morning that he's always out. We presumed he'd been with you."

That had Jo worried. Maybe Dean had decided that he didn't want this baby now, and was pushing her away. Not that she'd blame him. It was a shock pregnancy, and Jo hadn't exactly been civil to Dean before finding out about it. She'd just found out he was a witch; something that other hunters hated.

Prue saw the worry on Jo's face, and quickly backtracked, "Maybe he's just been extra busy with work, or there's been a hunt."

"Or maybe he's seeing someone else," Jo shrugged her shoulders, "I wouldn't exactly blame him. I just...well...never mind."

And then the hormones rose, and Jo couldn't help but feel the tears stinging her eyes. Quickly wiping one away, she stood up and grabbed her bag. She needed to get out of there before Prue realized she was upset. She didn't need anyone knowing she was upset over Dean Winchester of all people; a man who just couldn't settle down and had made it clear he wouldn't.

"Jo, is everything okay?" Prue asked, quickly standing to get around her desk before Jo left, "Before my honeymoon, you and him...well, something didn't seem right. Why wouldn't you blame him for seeing someone else? Last I heard, he was crazy about you and Dean doesn't get that way about just anyone."

Nodding her head, Jo put on a fake smile. She just really wanted out of that room, "I'm fine. It doesn't matter. I'm just being a stupid girl."

"Have you both had a fight while I've been away?" Prue asked, concerned for the girl, as more tears fell from her eyes, "You can talk to me, ya know. I may not seem it, but I can be a good listener."

"It's okay," Jo shook her head, "Can you just ask him to return my calls when you see him? It's really important I know if he's in or out." With that, Jo rushed out of the office, leaving Prue trying to read between the lines. What Prue didn't see was Jo round the corner and then slide down the wall, her breathing getting more and more uneven, as the tears fell down her face freely. There was no way she was turning the tap off right now.

* * *

Phoebe had decided to follow up another lead. She wanted to check with the Animal Protection Agency to find out more about the big black dog. Just as she was walking to the building, though, she noticed the black Impala sitting in the parking lot. Dean was already here.

Frowning, Phoebe perched on the hood of the car, her arms crossed over her chest. She would wait as long as she needed to see her cousin.

"Get off my baby," Dean's voice shouted at her across the parking lot, making Phoebe jump. She hadn't realized she'd gone off into a daydream in the time she'd waited. The youngest Halliwell jumped up from the car, looking at her cousin sheepishly. Dean couldn't help but take the sleeve of his blue jacket and run it over the hood of his car, "It's okay, Baby. She didn't mean to hurt you."

"I can't hurt a car by sitting on the hood!" Phoebe glared at him, but Dean didn't dignify it with a response. He just looked at her before getting into his car. Phoebe followed him, climbing into the passenger seat.

"What are you doing here, anyway?"

"I was going to find out more about the black dogs," Phoebe shrugged her shoulders, earning a shocked look from her cousin, "What? It's not like this is the first time I've needed to find out more about a case."

"I...well, usually I have to tell one of you what you should be doing next," Dean pointed out, "I'm actually quite impressed that you came here off your own back. By the way, can you help me with something?"

Dean pulled out a piece of paper, and showed it to Phoebe, wondering what the thing with the " " symbol in front of it was. Phoebe giggled a little, before realizing that her cousin was serious. He had no idea what Twitter was.

After clarifying the social media site by name, Phoebe moved on, "So, what did the receptionist have to say about the calls to animal control?"

"There have been 19 calls about anything big, black or dog-like." Dean explained, driving in a pre-set direction. It was clear he already had a first address, "So, Twitter. What the hell is that?" Phoebe couldn't help but giggle at the question, but she laughed out loud when she heard his next question, "Seriously, is that like some sort of porn site?"

Dean had certainly known where he was driving to, though. Once Phoebe got over her fit of giggles, and explained that it was a social media site to follow her random 140-character postings, she was able to check the upscale suburban area they were driving through. Dean had made it clear they needed to check out one of the calls from two days ago.

"Oh, someone already came yesterday." A young, Mexican woman said as Dean introduced himself and his cousin as Animal Control, pulling out some fake ID to 'prove' it to her, "We're just following up and looking for Dr. Sylvia Pearlman?"

As the two were invited into the house, the Mexican woman explained that the doctor had left shortly after making a phone call. It had all been in the report the previous day. The problem was, the woman—who turned out to be the maid—had no idea where her employer left to.

"That stray dog, did you finally find it?" The main now asked, looking between the two witches.

"Not yet," Phoebe shook her head, offering a small smile, "You didn't ever happen to see the dog yourself, did you?"

"I never even heard it." The woman admitted, and Phoebe couldn't help but see Dean's eyebrows knot together in a deeper frown. While he kept asking more questions, Phoebe couldn't help but see a photo on the wall of the female doctor with two of her friends, "I was almost starting to think the doctor was imagining things, but she's not like that, so..."

"You know, I read she was, uh, chief surgeon at the hospital," Dean cut the woman off, glancing at Phoebe as she snooped in clear view, "She's gotta be what? 42, 43? Pretty young for that job, right?"

"Youngest in history," the Mexican replied with a nod, just as Phoebe turned the photo over, "She got the position...ten years ago?" That caught Phoebe's eyes and she looked up at the woman.

"An overnight success?" Phoebe clarified, and this time Dean realized that Phoebe had figured something out, "I know another guy like that."

When the woman wasn't looking, Phoebe pocketed the photo and motioned to Dean that they needed to talk in private. She found something that just couldn't be a coincidence.

* * *

Meanwhile, Darryl was back at Madison's apartment with Sam, so they could discuss the possibility of a werewolf. Of course, they had to tread carefully to make sure she didn't suspect anything.

"I don't understand," Madison shook her head, "I spoke to your partner yesterday."

"I need to verify some things," Darryl explained, "And this is a trainee. I got lumped with him today."

Sam gave a small wave, as Darryl looked around the 20-something at the man sitting at the small dining table.

"Oh, this is my neighbour, Glen," Madison introduced the man, "This is Detective...I'm sorry I can't remember your name."

"Morris." Darryl smiled, not offended at all. It wasn't the first time a witness had forgotten his name. Most of them wanted to forget the whole thing. Glen seemed to get the idea that it was time to go, and left the apartment. Madison couldn't help but thank him again for the casserole, and then explained how he'd come over to check on her after hearing the news.

Sam took a seat where Glen was, while Darryl and Madison sat just near him. He couldn't help but comment about how shaken up she must have been after the incident, "You were Nate Mulligan's trainee?"

"That's right," Madison nodded, "My first year out of law school. He could be a bit of a creep and had plenty of notches on his bed post, but was a great lawyer. You know the type?"

"We know." Darryl and Sam both nodded in agreement, just thinking about Dean Winchester. Yes, he was good at his job, but could be a leery creep, with plenty of notches on his bedpost.

"Did he, uh, have any enemies?" Sam decided to try to see if he could have known the werewolf. It seemed strange that the wolf had gone from female victims to a specific male target.

"I thought it was an animal attack." Madison said, glancing at Darryl, who seemed caught off guard.

"Well, yes, but we're covering all bases right now," Darryl quickly explained, glaring at Sam for opening this can of worms, "Anyone that might have had a grudge? Former client? Ex?"

Madison's face seemed to change to one of recognition, and Sam couldn't help but press further. She was all too welcome to share more details, "This is embarrassing, but my ex-boyfriend Kurt...Kurt Mueller. After we broke up, he went kinda nuts. He's...well, he's kinda been stalking me. He got it in his head that something was going on between Nate and me. He showed up at my office..."

"What happened?" Darryl was genuinely concerned now. Even if this wasn't the werewolf, he could turn out to be dangerous. He'd seen too many cases with a stalker-like ex-boyfriend.

"A few nights ago. Actually, the night Nate died. We were all grabbing drinks at this bar downtown. Erm, P3x2? You heard of it?"

"I've heard of it." Sam nodded, knowing that Darryl was nodding too.

"Well, Kurt showed up there. It was probably nothing. He was watching me and then he was gone," Madison said, but her face was telling Sam and Darryl a different story. With their insistence, she finally admitted, "To tell you the truth...he scares me."

* * *

Sam had managed to text Adam the details, so he and Andy could check out the stalker ex-boyfriend. It all certainly fit together. He hated the boss and was there on the night. It was a theory, and a better one than he'd had in the past with demons and ghosts; probably better than some of the theories Dean had come up with in the past.

Andy had decided it was worth paying a visit, mainly to talk to him about stalking Madison. When they got there, the apartment was empty but Adam had picked the lock, thankful that his big brother had taught him this recently. Turning a blind eye, Andy looked out for anyone before getting into the apartment to check for anything that told them this was the lair of the werewolf.

"No human hearts behind the Haagen-Dazs." Adam said with a defeated sigh. Just as he closed the door, Andy heard the unmistakeable sound of a door opening and closing and then a crash outside. His police instincts quickly took over, and he rushed to the sliding door of the balcony, getting outside to check for the ground below. It was easily a 20 foot drop, but that wasn't all he noticed.

"Hey, Adam." Andy said, pointing at claw marks in the concrete wall that slid all the way to the ground.

"Somebody there?" A voice from down below called out and then the sound of two gun shots. Andy and Adam wasted no time racing out of the apartment and down to the alleyway behind the apartment block. Racing down the alleyway, Andy covered his mouth at the sight of a uniformed policeman completely mauled. They had just almost had a run-in with the werewolf.

* * *

Meanwhile, across the city in a rundown motel room with red fuzzy curtains and sheets, 42-year-old Dr. Pearlman huddled on the bed. Her brown, usually wavy hair was frazzled and out of place, as she clung to it in fear. She couldn't help but rock back and forth, flinching at even the slightest sound in the room.

More than once, she found herself pacing the floor, panicking that something was going to get her. The sound of pounding at the door caught her completely off guard, and she whirled on the spot; possibly wearing a hole in the carpet.

"Ms. Pearlman?" a man on the other side of the door called out to her, "You need to vacate the room or you gotta pay for another night."

The doctor rushed to grab her purse, pulling out as many bills as she could, before opening the door. Seeing the contorted face, eyes rolling into the back of his head, Ms. Pearlman quickly threw the money at him and then slammed the door closed. Chaining it, she leaned with her back against it, eyes wide with fear.

* * *

At the same time, Dean and Phoebe had pulled up at Lloyds bar on the outskirts of town. It was a rundown shack, and Dean had to admit that he was surprised it was still open. He didn't miss the yellow flowers growing at the side of the road, as Phoebe continued the path to the front door.

"What is it?" Phoebe asked, when she realized that Dean wasn't with her. Instead, he'd walked over to some of the yellow flowers.

"Think someone planted these?"

"Well, how else would they get here?" Phoebe asked with a shrug, "When did you get into flowers? Looking for something for Jo?"

"Not these types," Dean shook his head, "They're yarrow weeds. Used for certain rituals, like summoning spells."

Phoebe's imagination started getting the better of her, when she realized they were in the middle of a crossroads. She grinned at Dean, with a mischievous look in her brown eyes, "So, two people become sudden successes about 10 years ago, when they were both here. And we're now at a crossroads and you say these are for summoning spells. Ooo, this is getting better."

"There's nothing good about this, Phoebe," Dean shook his head, before he walked to the center of the crossroads. Digging into the soil, he finally got to something solid, "Yahtzee." Phoebe just watched as Dean pulled out a small, rusted box and opened it. Inside were items she'd never seen before; and some she wished she hadn't seen.

"Oh God, what is all that?" She asked, placing her hand over her mouth at the sight. Dean glanced up, pulling items out one by one to examine them. The sight of some made her shiver with the thought of what they could be, especially one item in particular. A bone small enough to be a child's bone.

"It's Deep South Hoodoo stuff," Dean explained, "I'm willing to bet that's graveyard dirt, and this," he held up the bone, smiling at Phoebe's physical shiver, "Not what you're thinking. It'll be a black cat bone."

"Oh, thank God for that!" Phoebe exclaimed with a deep sigh of relief, "But what's it for? Some sort of spell?"

"Used to summon a demon," Dean looked around with a frown, "And I wouldn't say just any demon. Like you pointed out, we're at a crossroads."

Phoebe nodded her head, as she understand more of what Dean was telling her, "Where deals and pacts are made," she stopped for a moment and then widened her eyes, "Wait, those black dogs. They're not black dogs at all, are they? They're Hellhounds."

"That college degree is doing you some good." Dean winked at her, making her blush.

"I like my minor in myths and legends," she shrugged her shoulders, self-consciously at the only member of her family without a degree, "Aren't Hellhounds demonic pit bulls?"

"And that demon is back and collecting. And that doctor lady?" Dean started, nodding his head, "Wherever she's running, she ain't running fast enough."

* * *

Back at the motel, Dean was right. Dr. Pearlman couldn't outrun the Hellhounds on her tale. The door was now rattling violently, as she heard the growing and barking outside. Fear ran straight through her, as suddenly something big and black smashed through the window. Sylvia was knocked to the ground, forcing herself to scramble backwards at the sight of the large hounds. They were scarred, deformed creatures, with bright red eyes. Drool dropped from their large mouths, housing sharp canines.

The doctor didn't have a change. One of the dogs grabbed one of her legs, dragging her towards the others. She turned to try grab anything, as she let out an involuntary scream, but it was no good. All her fingers could grab was the matted, worn carpet. Within an instant, the three Hellhounds were on her.

* * *

As Andy made the call about the police officer, Adam let his brother know about the mauled victim. It certainly looked like Mueller was Kujo, and now it was up to Sam and Darryl to find out more.

They returned to Madison's apartment, with the knocking catching the attention of neighbor Glen, "What's going on?"

"Police business." Darryl informed the man, just as Madison's apartment door opened.

"What is it?" Madison asked, a worried frown on her face as she looked between Darryl and Sam.

"I think we should talk in private." Sam explained, waiting for her to let them into the apartment. He looked around for any sign that her ex-boyfriend may be lurking anywhere, worried that she wouldn't even know if he was watching her, "Has Kurt been here?"

"Not exactly." Madison shook her head, catching both Sam and Darryl's attentions. She poured them coffee, while Darryl searched for more information. It soon found out that he'd been outside the house the night before, watching her. Madison didn't miss the look that the two men shared, "Has he done something?"

"We're not really sure." Sam explained, but Darryl acted fast to calm her nerves.

"It's probably nothing, but...we don't wanna take any chances," he explained, watching her nod. Years in the service had taught him how to break the news gently to someone that they may be in danger, "In fact, one of us should probably stay here with you, just in case he stops by. Where does he work?"

"He owns a body shop in town." Madison quickly grabbed the address, giving Sam a chance to turn to the detective.

"You'd better stay here," Sam told the detective, "If this is a werewolf, it's better I'm there to..."

"I was going to suggest the same thing," Darryl grinned, thankful that in this instance great minds did think alike, "As much as I respect the supernatural, I don't want to get too up-close and personal with it."

* * *

At P3x2, Piper wiped the top of her bar down, making sure everything was ready for opening that night. The morning trip with Phoebe had put her behind, but she couldn't help but wonder about some of the things the man had said. Like Phoebe, she couldn't ignore the fact that this Sean guy had gone from nothing to brilliant within minutes, just to die 10 years later.

 _All the good die young_ , Piper thought to herself, as the sound of the club door closing caught her attention.

"Piper?" Prue's voice called out, as her heels sounded down the stairs.

"Here." Piper smiled, seeing her elder sister reach the bottom of the club stairs, "What have I done to get a lunchtime visit from my big sister?"

"I can't really stay and it's not really a social call," Prue admitted, biting her bottom lip. Piper knew that, anyway, and just waited for Prue to get on with the explanation, "Have you noticed anything strange with Dean lately?"

"Strange?" Piper smirked, one eyebrow raising, "There's always something strange about him. You need to be a little more specific."

"Jo came by the office, said she hasn't seen Dean in a while..."

"What? But he's been spending hours out of the house, and he definitely hasn't been at work," Piper's smirked turned into a frown, "We assumed he'd been with Jo. They're definitely hiding something, and I just presumed the fact that they were dating. Dean doesn't date."

"Yeah, well, he's not been with Jo," Prue pointed out, "I think she's worried he's cheating, and she said she wouldn't blame him."

Piper couldn't understand what that meant, knowing that Dean and Jo had been in a good place just a week or so ago. What had changed in that short period of time? Before Prue's honeymoon, they'd had Phoebe and Sam's past lives reaching out to them and then Dan came...Piper stopped mid-thought and looked at her elder sister with shock, "Oh, you don't think..."

When she stopped, Prue looked at Piper with curiosity and worry, "Don't think what? Piper?"

"Well, Dan...remember he came by asking for help with Jenny? Dean was talking to him for a while," Piper explained, "You don't think he's working with Dan to get rid of the Yellow Eyed Demon, do you?"

Prue shook her head, as she laughed in disbelief. It would certainly be something that Dean would do, but surely he'd tell him family about this. The only reason he wouldn't would be if there was something or someone he wanted to protect. Prue slowly put it all together, narrowing her eyes, as she folded her arms, "Jo's pregnant."

"What? She told you that?" Piper asked, taken aback by the statement.

"She doesn't have to," Prue shook her head, "Both of them have been acting strange, and Dean has suddenly become extra protective around her. Now he's keeping things about Yellow Eyes secret...he's doing it to protect someone—and that definitely isn't going to be any of us. He knows he'll need us. He's protecting Jo..."

"And his unborn child?" Piper still wasn't too sure, but then she thought carefully, "The timing would fit with the future. Dean's daughter was a little older than mine."

"Oh, he's gonna wish he told us sooner." Prue smirked, making it clear she was going to make his life hard for this.

* * *

Jo's pregnancy was the last thing on Dean's mind, including telling any of his family. He was too busy working out where to go next. Still at the crossroads, Phoebe was now looking through the box of summoning items, while Dean thought.

"So, it's just like the Robert Johnson legend, right?" Phoebe clarified, "I mean, selling your soul at the crossroads kinda deal?"

"That wasn't a legend," Dean shook his head, "You know his music, right?" When Phoebe shook her head, Dean raised his eyebrows. His songs were full of occult references. Must the titles would make any hunter know that he'd really sold his soul. Crossroad Blues, Me and the Devil Blues, Hellhound on My Tail were all clear references."

When Phoebe frowned, Dean rolled his eyes. The songs may not have been enough to convince her, but the next part would, "The story goes he died choking on his own blood. He was hallucinating, muttering about big evil dogs."

"And now it's happening all over again," Phoebe was well and truly convinced. Seeing Dean nod his head, she moved on with some sort of plan, "We've gotta figure out if anyone else struck any bargains around here."

The next thing Dean said, shocked Phoebe, "Clean up these peoples' mess for 'em? They're not exactly squeaky clean, Phoebs. Nobody put a gun to their head and forced 'em to play Let's Make a Deal."

"Dean, they're still innocents," Phoebe shook her head, reminding him why they got their powers in the first place, "We can't just let them die."

"Somebody goes over Niagara in a barrel, you just gonna jump in and try save 'em?"

"Dean." Phoebe chastised her cousin, making him roll his eyes and give in. He'd help for now, but he clearly wasn't happy about it. She was glad he agreed to help, because he knew the next step. He knew that there would be a photo in the box used for the summoning. Now they just had to hope that the black man in the photo in the box was still alive.

* * *

The next morning, Darryl watched Madison from the kitchen table. She was just going through the mail, when she looked at him with a soft smile. He'd slept in the arm chair that night, only getting a few hours and she could see he wasn't comfortable, "Do you wanna sit on the couch?"

"I'm okay." Darryl shook his head, knowing that if he got too comfortable it could be bad news. He needed to stay awake. Madison smirked, walking out of the room and then returning with a basket full of clean laundry. Dumping it on the table, she started sorting through the items, purposely pulling out items of laundry, making the detective uncomfortable.

"You know, I think I will sit on the couch." Darryl said, making his way over to the couch as his phone started ringing. As he looked at the caller ID, he smiled with some relief.

"Let me guess," Andy didn't even bother with pleasantries, "You're sitting on her couch like a stiff, trying to think of something to say. God knows how you built up the courage to speak to your wife."

"I'm guessing you found Sam." Darryl didn't bother answering. He wasn't the best around women, but he knew he needed to keep an eye on her overnight, just in case.

"Yeah," Andy replied, "We went to Kurt's work, but he hasn't been there all week. Adam is on his way to you right now to help you out. Sam and I are checking out a lead."

Darryl hung up, just as the sound of knocking on the door echoed around the house. He quickly stood, making his way over. While he suspected it would be the youngest Winchester, he wasn't taking anything to chance. Madison watched from the table, as Darryl opened the door and sighed with a smile. Adam offered a small wave, holding up coffee and a small paper bag.

"I brought you breakfast," Adam explained, "Andy said you'd probably be too _polite_ to accept anything here." Darryl knew when he was being made fun of and just rolled his eyes, taking the gifts. He didn't want to admit it, but he had been too uncomfortable to accept food from Madison that morning; only coffee.

Adam made his way into the apartment, waving at the woman, "Hi, I'm Adam."

"Another trainee?" Madison asked, looking over at Darryl for confirmation.

"Yeah, you could say that." Adam nodded, knowing the story that had been made up for Sam, as he looked around, "Nice place you have."

"Thanks."

The three stood awkwardly in the house, before Madison motioned for them to sit on the couch. She joined them, turning on the TV to a soap opera. Darryl rolled his eyes, as Adam screwed his nose up at the choice of programming.

"I saw that." Madison looked at the two men with a smirk.

"Saw what?"

"This is the deal:" Madison didn't bother acknowledging the question with a direct response, "My house, my TV. I never get to watch my show, so suck it up."

Adam glanced over at Darryl, who just shrugged his shoulders. It left the youngest Winchester rolling his eyes, suggesting that Darryl go home and get changed. He could watch the potential werewolf victim for a few hours.

* * *

Dean had searched overnight, but had found the address of George Darrow; the man who'd summoned the demon in the first place. It was far from anything he expected, based on the previous two Hellhound victims.

"This ain't up next on MTV cribs, is it?" Dean said to Phoebe, looking around at the state of the rundown stairwell. The whole place looked like it was going to fall apart.

"Whatever deal he made wasn't for cash." Phoebe nodded in agreement, worried at the sound of the banister creaking and then wobbling.

"Hey, maybe this place is full of babes in Princess Leia bikinis," Dean grinned, making Phoebe roll her eyes. The eldest Winchester shrugged his shoulders at his joke, "I'm just saying, this guy's got one epic bill come due. Hope at least he asked for something fun."

When they reached apartment 4C, Dean stopped. A black powder he'd never seen before dusted the floor, along the doorway. Frowning, he started to wonder if the wrong condiment had been used, so crouched down to check it.

"Is that pepper?" Phoebe had the same idea, but jumped back as the door opened, revealing a 6 foot, middle-aged black man on the other side. He had a large build, but his hair was greying, showing his age. His t-shirt was covered in paint, the logo on it faded over the years.

"Who the hell are you?" The man asked, looking between the two. Dean stood, taking charge to find out if this was the man they were looking for. It certainly wasn't the man he expected to find, "I'm not guying anything."

Just before George closed the door on Dean, he pointed out at the wrong shaker being used, "Usually when you wanna keep somethin' evil out, you go for the salt."

"I don't know what you talkin' about." George narrowed his eyes, about to shut the door again. He soon stopped when Dean held up the small picture taken from the box found at the crossroads.

"You seen that Hellhound yet?"

When Phoebe saw the man's expression change to one of sadness and fear, she jumped in. Dean just didn't have patience for some people, "Look, we wanna help. Please, just five minutes."

* * *

It was just an hour later that Madison smirked at the sight of Adam leaning forward on the couch, completely riveted at the program. As the credits rolled, she couldn't help but smirk, from her laid back position in the corner. From the side, she had to admit that the look on his face made him even cuter than she thought he was when she first saw him.

"Wait, so, so Kendall married Ethan's father just to get back at him?" Adam turned back to look at Madison.

"Yup," she nodded, switching the TV off with the remote, "And now she's set to inherit all the casinos that were supposed to go to Ethan."

"What a bitch!" Adam explained, and then stopped to look at the smirk on Madison's face. In that moment, he'd realized what had happened and started laughing. Madison joined in with him.

"Admit it, you're hooked." She said through her laughter, but Adam shook his head. He wouldn't quite say he was hooked, but he was intrigued at how that storyline would end up playing out. Building a rapport with her, he felt a little easier moving onto a question he had.

"You know," Adam sighed, "Can I ask you a question? It's…It's a little personal."

"Well, you saw my entire underwear collection when you walked in, right?" Madison smirked at him, making it clear that he was free to ask.

"Okay, um…" now Adam had to find somewhere to start, "Well, you're…you're clearly smart. I mean, you place is full of great books, you know? And you're a lawyer like my brother, so I know how smart you have to be for that. And you're independent independent…"

"Uh huh." Madison cut him off, making it clear that he was rambling. It was time for him to just get out with the question.

"Why were you with a guy like Kurt?"

Madison paused to think for a minute, but she couldn't come up with an answer. How did you tell someone that the possessive, controlling dick was actually a smart, caring person to start with? The truth was that being with him to start with wasn't the problem. The problem was staying with him, because she was too insecure to leave.

"I find that hard to believe," Adam shook his head at how comfortable and secure she was with him around, "I mean, you don't really seem like the type."

"Yeah, well, some stuff happened to me, for the better I guess," Madison said, knowing that Adam's next question would be what that "stuff" was. Instead of waiting, she continued, "I got mugged."

"That's supposed to be a good thing?" Adam sat back on the couch, watching her curiously. Madison knew how silly it sounded, and admitted that she'd felt rattled and scared at first. The last thing she wanted to do, though, was let it ruin her life. She wanted to take control, and letting Kurt go was the first thing to manage that. She'd been lucky that that led to all this.

When Adam shrugged, Madison couldn't help but wink as she spoke, "What? Doesn't everybody think being a victim of random violence is the best thing that ever happened to them?"

Adam chuckled at the comment, calling Madison unusual. It soon led to questions about whether she was crazy, making Adam backtrack. All he really meant was that she was impressive. He'd never met a girl quite like her. Frankie had overcome so much in her life, but Madison seemed to take things one step further.

Interrupting their moment, Adam's phone rang from his pocket. Excusing himself, he quickly answered it. Andy and Sam had found Kurt and were keeping their eyes on him. All Adam and Darryl—they'd assumed he was there—had to do was keep their eyes on Madison.

* * *

During that hour, Dean and Phoebe had gotten a lot of information from George. Not only had they found out why he'd summoned the demon—he'd been weak and wanted to be able to paint well—but also what the pepper-like substance was at the door.

George had been surprised to hear that Dean and Phoebe had never heard about goofer dust, and had let Dean look at it. It was how Dean now had his own little brown sack of it. This would definitely come in use if the Hellhounds decided to show up at George's apartment while they were here.

"Well, we know a little about a lot of things," Dean had told George, "Just enough to make us dangerous."

Phoebe was fascinated about how George knew all about hoodoo, which did explain why he knew about summoning crossroad demons. His problem was that the demon had stuck around after making his deal—a deal that he was happy to stick with because he'd know the consequences when he'd summoned the damn thing. The demon went around Lloyds Bar, collecting souls one by one.

George had remembered the doctor and the architect because of how much they'd been in the papers over the last decade, but he knew there was another. At least one more person had made a 10 year deal, and that contract was up.

"Who else, George?" Phoebe asked, hoping that she could save someone for their reckless deal, "C'mon, think."

"Uh, there was a nice guy, down on his luck," George explained, "Hudson. Evan, I think. I don't know what he asked for. Doesn't matter now. We done for."

Phoebe refused to believe something like that. She needed to save this innocent, and she wanted to save George, too.

"Look, you don't get it," George told her, getting in her face and making Dean step beside her to protect her, "I called that thing! I brought it on myself. I brought it on them. I'm going to hell, one way or another. All I want is to finish my last painting. Day or two, I'm done. I'm just trying to hold them off 'till then. Buy a little time."

That was their time up after that. George wanted nothing more to do with them, making Dean pull his cousin out of the apartment. This man may not want to be saved, but there was possibly someone else who did.

The problem for them was that they only had a name. Dean would have to do some digging to find out who this Evan Hudson was, and that was only if George had remembered the name properly. It was clear that this guy wasn't in the papers like the other two, which meant it would be harder. He hadn't asked for fame or fortune.

"What is worth selling your soul over?" Dean asked Phoebe, as they made their way back into the house.

"Family?" Phoebe shrugged her shoulders. It would be the only thing she'd sell her soul for, "Maybe his kid was dying. I mean, wouldn't you do anything you could if you had a kid? I know you keep saying you wouldn't have them but…"

"Yeah, I guess," Dean frowned, getting out of his Impala and walking into the Halliwell-Winchester Manor, "I'll go get started on finding this guy, then."

Just as Dean was about to walk up the stairs, he was stopped by a stern voice, "I don't think so, Dean."

Turning around, Dean spotted Prue and Piper standing at the doorway to the living room, their arms folded across their chests. Phoebe looked between her sisters and her cousin, before deciding that she'd be the one to find the guy she hoped they could still save. Dean was clearly in trouble, and she wasn't going to get in the middle of that. For once, she could confidently say that she had nothing to do with it.

Dean remained on the spot at the bottom of the stairs, holding the banister. Looking between his two cousins, he had a look of confusion in his green eyes. What had he done now?

"Want to tell us where you've been lately?" Piper asked, confusing Dean even more.

"With Phoebe working on this dog thing," Dean guessed that they meant that day, "Turns out they're Hellhounds and there's a guy…"

"Not today," Piper shook her head, "How about the last few days. You've been out of the house a lot lately."

Dean opened his mouth to speak, but Prue cut him off, "Don't let me catch you in a lie. Jo came to see me today. For some reason she thinks you're breaking up with her. She doesn't blame you either. Now Piper and I have…"

Dean groaned, putting his head to his hands, "She really thinks that? Damn it."

"What's going on, Dean?" Piper asked, narrowing her eyes at her cousin. Instead of an answer though, he shook his head and made his way upstairs. But he should have know that it wouldn't be enough. Getting to his room, he realized Prue and Piper had followed him.

Phoebe glanced behind her, working from Dean's laptop and shocked to see the three of them walk into the room.

"Look, maybe we can help," Piper offered, "I mean, I know none of us have been there but…"

"What?" Dean shook his head in confusion, "Look, I'm not breaking up with Jo. I'm just…there's some stuff I need to take care of?"

"Like protecting a magical baby from the demon that killed your mom?" Prue asked, earning a glare from Piper. They'd agreed between them that they weren't just going to come out with the theory Jo was pregnant. It wouldn't have been fair on Dean.

The question had caught Phoebe's attention, though. She looked up from her chair glancing between her sisters and cousin. Dean shook his head, but his poker face faltered. It was clear they'd worked something out, "What magical baby?"

"Dean, be honest with us, please," Prue begged her cousin, stepping towards him, "You're working with Dan, aren't you? Trying to vanquish the Yellow Eyed Demon?"

"I'm trying to find a way to kill it without hurting Jenny," Dean nodded his head, "Dan asked me for help."

"I didn't think you trusted Dan." Phoebe said, but the glare she got from Dean told her to get back on with searching for Evan Hudson.

"You don't trust Dan," Piper shook her head, stating the fact, "But you'd work with him if you both a common enemy. You've gone months now without insisting on finding Yellow Eyes, but this last week…there's something or someone you're trying to protect."

"Yeah, my brother," Dean nodded, "If you don't remember, that son of a bitch killed him the first time. I'm not going to let it happen this time. You got an address yet, Phoebs?"

Phoebe shook her head, making it clear that she was listening into the conversation while she searched. Prue grabbed Dean's hand, making him flinch, "Dean, it's not just Adam. If it was, you wouldn't have let Yellow Eyes go when he reappeared. This has been recent. We've seen how protective you are of Jo…"

"Found him!" Phoebe interrupted her sister, knowing that this really was more important than anything else going on at the moment. They were on a strict deadline with this Evan guy.

"Great, let's go." Dean said, avoiding eye contact with Prue and Piper.

"We're not done." Prue made it clear, making Dean look back at her.

"You're not Grams." He simply said, before walking out of the room with Phoebe.

* * *

It was just an hour and half later that they were at Evan's house, on the outskirts of San Francisco. He'd moved into a large building; obviously part of his deal, in Dean's eyes. If only he knew that it was something Evan already had before being at the bar 10 years ago.

Phoebe and Dean wasted no time when Evan answered the door, making it clear that they knew he'd been at the bar 10 years ago. Terrified, Evan slammed the door on the two witches and then latched it. Dean just rolled his eyes at the sound of the latch shouting out that they weren't demons.

"Any other bright ideas?" Phoebe asked, glancing over at her cousin. Once again, Dean rolled his eyes and took a step back. With all his force, he kicked the door once, knocking it down instantly. Looking around, Dean made his way to the only closed door in the hallway. About to kick it down, Phoebe grabbed him to stop him, "What…"

Dean glared at his cousin, looking directly at the door. It was clear Evan was in that room. This time it was her turn to roll her eyes, as she turned the handle and pushed the door gently, opening the door to a quiet and dark room.

"Evan?" Phoebe called out, trying to see in the dark. Suddenly, a figure jumped out at her, pleading for his life. While shocked, Phoebe was able to compose herself to try and calm the man down, "We're not going to hurt you, all right? We're here to help you."

"We know all about the genius deal you made." Dean growled at the man, clearly still not happy about the idea of helping someone who had brought his outcome upon himself. The man didn't believe them at first, knowing that there was no way out of his deal. It led to the question that neither Dean or Phoebe had an answer for.

"How can you stop it?"

"We don't know," Phoebe admitted, seeing the dash of hope in his eyes disappear, "We'll try, though."

"I don't wanna die." Evan admitted, leading to Dean rolling his eyes. Of course he wouldn't want to die now. Phoebe tried to stop her cousin, but he was too busy on a roll about condemning the man for a decision he'd made 10 years ago; wanting to know how he could sell his soul, "I did it for my wife."

"Right, gettin' the girl," Dean scoffed, not daring to look at the man, "Well, that's worth a trip to hell or wherever you end up going."

"Dean!" Phoebe chastised her cousin, but Evan jumped in. He knew what he'd done was stupid, but he'd done it; he'd made the choice. Nobody had twisted his arm that night, but he was desperate. If it wasn't for the fact that his wife's cancer treatment had been stopped, he would have never done it. He'd made the deal, and he would do it again in a heartbeat.

While the story had touched Phoebe's heart, Dean wasn't buying it. He didn't have the empathy that his cousin did. Shaking his head, he now glared at the man, "Did you even think about her in all this?"

"I did this for her." Evan said, making Dean advance on him.

"You sure about that? I think you did it for yourself," Dean shouted, "There was no one else you thought about. You just knew you couldn't live without her. But guess what? She's gonna have to live without you now. What if she knew how much it cost? That it cost your soul? How do you think she'd feel?"

Phoebe realized there was more to Dean's anger than a man just selling his soul. Quickly getting in between the two men, she tried to calm her cousin down. Instead, he threw her the goofer dust from George and started making his way out of the room, mumbling something about summoning the demon.

"Summon? Are you nuts?" Phoebe shouted, realizing just how dangerous this could be.

"Maybe a little," Dean admitted, "But I can trap it and exorcise it. I can buy us some time to figure out something more permanent."

He didn't have all the details, but he had enough and he was going through with it. Besides, he wanted some answers to questions he had. As he walked out of the room, he wasn't expecting Phoebe to grab his arm and stop him, "You've been on edge ever since getting to the damn crossroad. This isn't just about some innocents selling their souls."

"Go on, what's this all about?"

"It's about your dad," Phoebe pointed out, "You think maybe Uncle John made one of these deals. Hell, I've been thinking about it. Apart from the timeline, it makes sense. Adam was dead. He wasn't coming back and then you and Uncle John took off. Suddenly, Uncle John turns himself in for a crime he didn't commit, clears Andy's name and says his goodbyes to all of us? Then he mysteriously has a heart attack? You think he sold his soul."

Dean didn't answer, but Phoebe could see through the attempted poker face. Nodding her head, she was about to speak, but Evan came rushing out of the study, "I think I hear it! It's outside."

Phoebe looked at Dean, nodding her head. It was time for him to go and she would try to protect the innocent until Dean managed to do something.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sam and Andy were following Kurt. The ex-boyfriend hadn't done anything suspicious yet, and had just made his way back to his own apartment. They watched from Andy's car as the light turned on. Suddenly, the sound of glass shattering made them both frown and rush out of the car.

Rushing into the house, Andy was the first to burst down the door, his gun raised. Sam had his own, ready to fire if he needed to. Both stopped when they saw Madison crouching over the mauled body of her ex-boyfriend. But this wasn't the Madison they'd seen earlier. Her eyes were electric blue and her teeth bloody fangs. Her nails had turned into claws, and an animalistic growl was released from her body as she realized she'd been interrupted.

Sam quickly fired off a round, catching her arm with the bullet. Growling again, Madison rushed at Andy and Sam, pushing the detective backwards into the witch. She then jumped out of the open window. Both men were left shocked at the turn of events, so shocked that they were lost for words.

Andy quickly pulled out his cell phone, dialling Darryl's number. It went through to voicemail, making Andy curse out loud. Next he tried Adam, but the same thing happened. This didn't just annoy Andy, but worried him. Had something happened to them? Had they found out about Madison and been two victims first?

Sam wasn't wasting any time with questions. Realizing that Andy wasn't getting through to either Adam or Darryl, he rushed out of the apartment and back to the car. There was only one place to go right now.

* * *

With everything set up just the way he needed it, Dean was now ready to summon the crossroads demon. Replacing George's photo with one of his own, he buried the box of hoodoo magic in the center of the crossroads. Hopefully that was all that was needed. He'd never actually summoned a demon, but it couldn't be that hard is a non-hunter had managed it.

"So, what brings a guy like you to a place like this?" A woman asked from behind him. Her voice was girly and sickly sweet. When he turned, he couldn't help admire the little black dress and beautiful dark brown/almost black hair, "You called me?"

"I'm glad it worked." Dean said, an appreciative look on his face. The woman smirked, tilting her head to one side.

"First time?"

"You could say that."

The demon walked around Dean, smirking at him, "Don't sell yourself short. I know all about you, Dean Winchester."

When her eyes glowed red, Dean remembered he was dealing with a demon; a demon possessing a poor young girl. Did she even have any idea what was going on right now? "So, you know who I am?"

"I get the newsletter," She shrugged her shoulders, "I heard you were handsome, but...you're just edible. What can I do for you, Dean?"

"Maybe we should do this in my car," Dean suggested, not really wanting an audience to appear. Not that he'd seen anyone. Lloyds bar had clearly closed down a while ago, "Nice and private."

"Sounds good to me." The demon shrugged, clearly buying the excuse. She followed the hunter to the black Impala, running her finger across the hood appreciatively. Dean tried his hardest not to cringe at the thought of the demon's hands on his baby.

"I was hoping we could strike a deal." Dean suggested, seeing the smirk on the demon's face. This was what she did, after all. The problem was when he said he wanted Evan Hudson released, she shook her head. It wasn't negotiable, "I'll make it worth your while."

The girl tilted her head again, "What are you offering?"

"Me."

"Well, well, well," the girl chuckled, "You'd sacrifice your life for someone else's. Like father, like son." Hearing that made Dean stop in his tracks. She couldn't help but smirk again at his wary look, "You did know about your dad's deal, right? His life for your brothers?"

"You...you made that deal?"

"You betcha," the girl smirked, "Oh, if only you knew just how eager he was to give up his life for his baby boy. I wonder, would he have done the same for you?"

Dean gritted his teeth at the question, and then opened the passenger door for the demon to get in. Just before she got in, she glanced at the ground, seeing the edge of a symbol. Glaring up at Dean, her eyes flashed red, "A Devil's Trap? You've got to be kidding me!"

* * *

It seemed that the Hellhounds had got the message that Dean Winchester had had the audacity to try and trap their boss. Suddenly, they got more and more aggressive. Phoebe quickly laid the goofer dust at all entrances to the study, and then placed a circle around Evan. He needed to stay there if she was going to keep him alive.

* * *

The banging on the door had woken Adam with a start. He hadn't even realized he'd fallen asleep on the couch. Even more shocking, he found out Darryl had fallen asleep next to him. The last thing he remembered, they were both watching some old Western on the TV, fighting the need to sleep after Madison had turned in.

Banging on the door reminded Adam what was going on. Quickly shaking Darryl awake, he rushed over to the door. On the other side, Andy was clearly about to break down the door to get in.

"Thank God!" Sam exclaimed, rushing into the apartment to hug his brother, "I thought something had happened to you."

"I'm fine," Adam pulled away from his brother, looking between the two men, "What's going on? Are you two okay?"

"We're fine," Andy nodded, stepping into the apartment to eye up his partner, "Nice job keeping an eye on Madison, by the way."

Darryl looked to the floor, knowing he was guilty of falling asleep. It was only supposed to be for five minutes, but the night before had caught up on him. Andy ignored the apologetic look and made his way through the apartment to Madison's bedroom, "It's Madison."

"What?" Adam asked, looking at his brother for more information.

"The werewolf," Sam explained, "It attacked Kurt. We got a damn good look at it. It was Madison."

It couldn't be; Adam wouldn't believe it. Shaking his head, he followed Andy and went straight to teh bedroom. Opening the door gently, he peeked in to see Madison asleep under the covers, the only light the pink hue of a sunrise.

Andy and Sam looked at each other, confused. They were certain it was Madison in the apartment. Then Sam remembered, and glanced over the sleeping form of the girl, "I nicked her on the arm with a silver bullet."

Adam stopped his brother from walking into the room, surprised that he hadn't considered just how wrong that would be. It would be something he expected Dean to do. Sheepishly, Sam stepped back, just as Madison rolled over and slowly woke up from her sleep. Glancing at the four men looking at her, she raised her eyebrows. It was only then that she noticed she didn't have any clothes. Frowning, she looked at all four of them, "Where's my pajamas?"

As she consciously pulled the sheets up to cover herself, the four men noticed something that they really hadn't hoped. On her left arm, there was a gash right where Sam's bullet had hit the werewolf.

* * *

As the sun rose in the distance, Dean knew that he needed to act quickly. Phoebe couldn't keep Evan alive for too long, especially not now he'd managed to piss off the crossroad demon. He'd really hoped she wouldn't see the edge of the trap, but he hadn't been as coy as he'd hoped.

The girl walked away, anger in her brown-again eyes, "You stupid, stupid...I should rip you limb from limb."

Advancing on Dean, she forced him to walk backwards to a wooden structure off to the side of the crossroad.

"Take your best shot." Dean offered to her. The demon followed him, but didn't step under the wooden structure with her.

"I'd love to," the girl said, "After all, I've been after you for some time. But for now...No, I think I'll let you lose this innocent and just wonder what's happened to your poor dear daddy."

"What?"

"You don't get it, do you?" the demon laughed, "Your misery is fun to watch. It's gotta hurt knowing your daddy sold his soul for your brother. The baby of the family. The one that could do no wrong. He wouldn't have done the same for you. Nobody would have done the same for you. If Azazel had killed you, your body would be rotting in a grave right now."

Dean clenched his jaw, knowing that she had read him just right. But that wasn't what he was confused about, "You've been after me for some time?"

"Oh, you caught on that, did you?" the demon asked with a smirk, "The last time you saw me I wasn't in this body. I wanted to see if you'd actually go through with selling your soul for someone else; an innocent you didn't know. Well, trying to trap me. That was a stupid move."

"No demon gets away from me." Dean shook his head, narrowing his eyes.

"I did," the girl smirked, "Twice. Your brother Sammy is much better looking, though. Reminds me of a certain family member almost 100 years ago."

The look on Dean's face told the demon everything she needed to know. He'd worked out just who she was; the demon that got away, "I coulda given you your daddy back, you know. I was willing to, for your soul. I'da even given you 10 long years with him. But...not now. I wish you a nice long life..."

She started walking away, slowly, knowing that eventually she would get the call back. After five seconds, she heard it. It was a mumble, but she definitely heard it, "Hold on."

* * *

Adam and Sam had worked together quickly. After locking the door, Adam pulled one of the dining chairs out from the table and found bed sheets that would act as rope to tie Madison to it. Allowing her the dignity to get dressed, Andy and Darryl then pulled her into the sitting room so Sam and Adam could tie her to the chair.

Madison screamed the whole time, not really understanding anything that was going on. All she could hear was talk about being a monster—a fictional monster at that. Numerous times she heard them call her a werewolf, and she couldn't quite believe her ears.

"You're psychotic." She said, looking at all of them. Now she even doubted that any of them were detectives. They'd lured her into a false sense of security to do this, "I bet none of you are even detectives."

"It's not like you were who you said you were, is it?" Adam pointed out, narrowing his eyes at the woman. He didn't trust her. Every bone in his body told him that she was a monster and something needed to happen.

"You're sick," Madison said, shaking her head as she tried to fight her way out of the tight knots, "You're imagining things. Monsters don't exist, not really."

"I only wish that was true." Darryl mumbled loud enough for Madison to hear, but Adam took over.

"Save the act." He needed to get to the bottom of this. He needed to know how long she'd known about being the werewolf they were secretly after.

Madison screamed about it not being an act, but the four men wouldn't listen. They were adamant that werewolves existed; that other monsters and creatures from horror movies existed. Fear ran through her as she realized the danger that she had put herself in by letting them into her home.

"If you're not a werewolf," Sam stepped forward, keeping his voice calm and understanding, "Where did that wound come from?"

Madison looked at the gash, but shook her head. She couldn't explain where it came from, because she didn't know. It was new, and she definitely didn't do anything yesterday to cause it.

"I'll tell you," Andy now explained, "Sam had to shoot at you with a silver bullet last night. Silver is the only thing that kills a werewolf."

Madison still couldn't let herself believe anything that the four men were saying. Monsters weren't real; it was as simple as that.

The problem for the two witches and two detectives was that it left a moral dilemma. It was clear that she had no idea what she really was. While it meant she had no control, it also meant that it was just an animal side that came out every full moon. The rest of the time she was an innocent person.

* * *

The rattling in the house had grown louder and more violent. It was like the doors would come off their hinges at any moment. Even Phoebe could hear the rattling, even if she couldn't hear the dogs. Suddenly, the rattling stopped and Phoebe couldn't help but look at Evan.

"Do you hear it?"

Evan looked around, breathing hard. His heart was beating faster than ever, but it was never enough to drown out the sound of the dogs. Now all he could hear was the blood rushing around his body and into his ears, "No. Is it over?"

Phoebe hoped so, but it was a minute too soon. The grating by the wall made a deep rumbling sound, causing both to look at it. Suddenly, it burst outwards, destroying the line of goofer dust in front of it. Phoebe let out an involuntary scream, as Evan yelled, "It's here!"

* * *

"You're lucky I have a soft spot for lost puppies," the demon smirked, turning back to face Dean and stepping towards him, "That, and I've wanted to kill you since you tricked me. I should have known you'd try it again with the damn Impala. Hey, when you die, can I have it? Not that you'd have the choice for that matter."

"Can you bring him back? My dad?" Dean ignored the question, glaring straight at the demon in front of him.

"Of course I can," Meg smirked, "Well, it would take some work. His souls already been bought...but well, I can work some magic. Your dad would live a long and natural life, like he was meant to and Adam would still get to keep his life. That would be a promise."

"What about me?" Dean now asked, narrowing his eyes. He wanted to ask about buying the soul, but decided he'd come back to that.

"I'd be willing to give you 10 years," Meg shrugged her shoulders, "Ten long good years with your daddy and your baby brother. That's a lifetime really. Just think of the four Winchester boys reunited again."

Meg advanced forwards, getting into his personal space underneath the wooden contraption. Her finger ran down his chest, "I could live in peace knowing that you'd die in 10 years. I think Azazel would be happy enough with that, too. Plus, he'd get to go after your dad and brother again. You know I banned him from your brother after your dad's sacrifice. For a year, anyway."

"You think you could," Dean started saying as he stepped away from the demon. Making his way out of the wooden structure, he smirked, "Throw in a set of steak knives?"

Meg rolled her eyes and shook her head. Walking towards Dean, she chastised him, "You know, this smart-ass, self-defense mechanism of yours..."

Suddenly, Meg found herself not able to move anymore. Frowning, she followed Dean's quick glance above her. Somehow, she'd fallen into another of his traps. A Devil's Trap sat at the top of the wooden structure, stopping her from doing anything.

"Dean..."

"Now you're really trapped," Dean smirked, "That's gotta hurt."

"Let me out. Now!"

Dean could now get on with what he came here for. Talking about his dad had hurt, but it had led to Meg—he couldn't believe it was _that_ demon—being completely trapped in a Devil's Trap. It was clear she knew what he was going to ask for, and she wasn't going to budge, "I can't break a contract."

"By can't, you mean you don't want to," Dean stated the obvious, pulling out a small leather bound journal from his pocket. Meg looked at it and swallowed hard, knowing exactly what was in there, "Last chance. Evan and his wife get to live to a ripe old age together or you get...well...I'm not sure where you go when your exorcised, but you catch my drift. Going, going..."

"Let's talk about this." Meg was starting to panic. She knew Dean Winchester didn't call anyone's bluff. If he couldn't save the innocent, he would definitely send her back down to the Underworld.

"Okay, gone." Dean shrugged his shoulders, turning the page to the one with the exorcism. Meg wasted no time in starting the exorcism. Meg tried to convince Dean to think of his dad, but it was no use. The man was going to sacrifice his dad's soul to save an innocent.

As the exorcism continued, Meg couldn't help but flinch and convulse. She tried to keep the demon inside her meatsuit, but it wouldn't be long until Dean's exorcism won out. There was only one thing she could do to save herself from a trip to the Underworld. Hating herself for it, she shouted, "Wait!"

* * *

Back at the Hudson household, the growling, pounding and violent shaking had completely stopped. Phoebe and Evan looked around, waiting to see if it would all start up again. Evan shook his head, clutching his chest, "I think...they've stopped. Is it over?"

"I...I don't know." Phoebe breathed, not counting her blessings yet. She needed to hear from Dean that it was definitely over.

* * *

Back at the crossroads, it was clear that it was definitely over. Meg and Dean were caught in a lip lock, as the deal was sealed. As she broke the kiss, Dean stepped back, wiping his mouth, "What the hell was that for?"

"Sealing the deal." Meg smirked, waiting for Dean to let her out of the trap. Once Dean made sure Evan was free from his own deal, he stepped forward.

"How do I know you're not lying?"

"My word is my bond." Meg rolled her eyes, clearly not lying, "It's the rules when I make deals. Now you got what you wanted, let me go."

Dean glanced up at the Devil's Trap and then smirked, looking back down at the journal. He wasn't going to stick to his word. It wasn't in his rules. While Meg shouted at him for the double-cross, he continued the exorcism.

"When I get out, Evan will be the first thing I skin." Meg made it clear, stopping Dean in his tracks, "And then your dad's soul...oh, you'd love to know my plans for him. Or maybe you wouldn't...and then there'd be your brothers and your cousins..."

"You can try." Dean smirked, but he wasn't expecting the next thing to follow.

"And then there's Jo and your unborn baby. That daughter of yours will make a nice collection to my dead bodies."

Dean stepped forward, getting as close as he could to the demon, "You even think about laying a hand on her head, and you'll wish I killed you right away."

With that, he climbed up on the wooden structure and pulled a plank off the top. The Devil's Trap was broken and Meg was free. She stepped forward, almost as if ready to do something to Dean, but then stood and titled her head back. Black smoke left the mouth of the young girl she was possessing, leaving the scene completely. The black-haired girl fell to the ground, into a sitting position. Dean sighed with relief to find out she was still alive.

"What..." the girl looked up from the crumpled heap on the ground. Fear and tears were in her eyes, "Where am I? How did I get here?"

* * *

Prue and Piper had tried to wait all night for Dean and Phoebe to return, but eventually gave in. They could talk to Dean the next morning, knowing that they'd gone to help an innocent. What they were surprised at when they woke up the next morning, though, was to find Sam and Adam with Darryl at the dining table, looking through the Book of Shadows.

"What's going on?" Piper asked, looking at all four cautiously.

"Werewolf," Darryl answered, still not quite believing what he was dealing with. He'd seen demons, but werewolves were another thing, "Looking for a cure."

"I...I don't think there is one," Prue shook her head.

"Well, there's nothing about them in the Book of Shadows, anyway." Adam sighed, watching as Sam closed the book. It left the two Halliwell sisters trying to guess what had happened. Frowning, he then looked at his wife, "How would you know there isn't one?"

"Well, I've never come across one," Prue explained, "And I've read that Book back to front."

"The best person to ask would be Dean," Sam sighed, hating to admit that he still needed to rely on his brother for information. After the mistake of dealing with his past life, Sam secretly wanted to prove to his brother that he didn't need him to bail him out of situations, "Where is he anyway? Still with Jo?"

"Probably not," Piper shook her head, "He went somewhere with Phoebe last night and hasn't been back. He was dealing with something to do with black dogs."

"Black dogs?" Adam asked, screwing his face up, "There's something supernatural to do with some black dogs? They possessed or something?"

"They're omens of some type," Prue explained, just as Dean and Phoebe walked into the house.

"C'mon, Dean, maybe she was lying," Phoebe pleaded with him, "I mean, demons lie all the time, right?"

"Only when it suits them," Dean shook his head, "I've known plenty tell the truth if they know it will hurt. And that...that hurt, Phoebs."

Dean turned back from his cousin to see everyone else in the room. Phoebe glanced across, closing her mouth so she said no more. Dean had asked to keep the information about John—that he'd shared because he just needed to get it off his chest—to herself for now. He didn't want Adam finding out what had potentially happened to their dad because of that one deal. It all certainly made sense, though.

Now that they were back with all eyes on them, Phoebe quickly tried to come up with an explanation for what they were talking about, "Some demon...she...erm..."

"She was a bitch." Dean rolled his eyes at Phoebe's poor attempt at lying on the spot, before narrowing them to look between his cousins, brothers and two detectives, "What's everyone doing here with the Book of Shadows.

"We, erm, well, we were looking for information about werewolves, of all things," Darryl explained, not feeling the need to hide anything, "Please tell me that they exist is a surprise to you."

"Are you kidding me?" Dean asked with a laugh, rushing over to the Book of Shadows. He didn't think anything could cheer him up after the last few hours, but this definitely could, "I haven't faced a werewolf in years. They're vicious creatures. I do kinda feel for 'em. They never have any idea what's happening to 'em."

"Is there a cure?" Sam looked up hopefully. All he wanted was to make sure an innocent could be saved. Dean frowned for a minute, but then nodded his head. Quickly pulling out his dad's journal from his jacket pocket, he turned the pages to the one on the werewolf. Placing it on the table, Sam leaned forward to read, "Sever the bloodline? What does that mean?"

"To turn into a werewolf, a person has to be bit."

"Like a vampire?" Piper clarified.

Dean nodded his head, "You need to kill the werewolf that bit the innocent."

"But that could be another innocent." Prue pointed out with a frown. She couldn't kill one innocent to kill another. How would that be fair?

"There's a catch," Dean now pointed out, "Once a werewolf has had its first taste of human blood, there's no turning back."

Adam groaned, rubbing his eyes, "Well, that means we can't save Madison anyway. She's already killed."

"Is there another option?" Phoebe asked, hoping that her cousin could answer. Her hope dropped when he shook his head.

"I know, it sucks," Dean sighed, "I've only been able to save two werewolves in my time of hunting. Dad said he'd saved one before that; that's how he knew the cure worked."

"So, you're saying someone who is an innocent person all but three days of the month has to die?" Piper asked, "Talk about unfair. That's like women having to die because they can be hormonal monsters for a few days each month."

"Werewolves clearly don't have much control, though," Andy remembered how Madison attacked but couldn't remember anything the next morning, "Once she turns, she could hurt anyone."

"Unless she was lying." Sam suggested, a grave look on his face, "Maybe she does remember, but put the act on to save herself."

Prue suddenly looked at the four men around the table with a worried look in her blue eyes, "You've already told the girl she's a werewolf? Where is she? Please don't tell me you didn't give away the family secret."

"Well, not quite," Darryl winced, suddenly realizing that they hadn't handled the situation that well, "Adam and Sam tied her up while we got some answers. Andy is keeping an eye on her at the moment."

Prue and Dean looked at each other and groaned. This was going to be a little harder, especially if she'd gone to the police about this. They were going to have to work as quickly as possible, while finding a way to help her.

* * *

Andy watched Madison cautiously from the couch, wondering why he'd been the one to volunteer to stay there. Surely Adam would have been the best option, considering he was the one with an active power. The werewolf just stared at Andy, a mixture of anger and fear in her eyes.

"When I get outta here, I'll call the cops," Madison told Andy, "I'll make sure they know who and what you are, you psychotic son of a bitch."

"Other detectives already know I'm a little strange," Andy nodded his head, "Look, all we're doing is trying to save you and other people out there."

"From what? There's no such thing as werewolves."

"I wish I could agree." Andy sighed, wondering how his life had gotten so mixed up. A knock at the door caught his attention, and he crossed the room to check the keyhole. Smiling, he opened it to allow Prue, Dean and Adam into the apartment, "Please tell me you have something."

"I wish," Adam sighed, walking straight over to Madison, "I need you to answer me a question."

"Why would I do that?"

"So I can maybe help," Adam shrugged once, making it clear he wasn't in the mood for games, "You said you got mugged, right?"

"What's that got to do with anything?"

Prue stepped forward, sensing the hostility in the room, "Look, my cousin and husband could have handled this with more tact, but tying you up was an attempt to save you. Please, just answer us this."

"Down by Hunter's Point, why?"

Adam and Andy looked at each other, realizing that it fit the location of dead girls. That was the werewolf's hunting ground. Adam now turned back to Madison, "When were you attacked?"

"Last month," Madison sighed, frustrated and agitated, "Look, what does any of this have to do with you tying me up and claiming I'm some sort of fictional monster?"

"Because we want you to understand that this fictional monster isn't exactly fictional," Prue explained, crouching down, "I wish I could say different, but it's certainly not the strangest thing I've seen in the last 18 months."

"Not the strangest thing I've seen in the last 10 years or so." Dean clarified, making Madison look up at him.

"So, that's why we need to know," Prue could see that Madison was softening to her more than the men, "Did you see who attacked you?"

"No," Madison shook her head, "He attacked me from behind. Bit me on the back of the neck, too."

Frowning, Dean walked around the girl and pulled her hair to one side. A large gash in her neck, bruised and swollen stood out. It wasn't just any bite mark. It was a werewolf one, "Well, that coulda been a hell of a lot worse. But that's a werewolf bite, alright."

"What the hell are you going on about?"

"What are our options?" Andy asked, "You really want to kill an otherwise innocent person?"

"There's no cure, it's too late," Prue sighed, but she didn't want to kill someone. Not when most of the time she was going to be human and fine. Looking over to Dean, she shrugged her shoulders, "What do you wanna do?"

Walking back around the girl, he crouched down to her level, "You gotta understand that I really don't wanna hurt you, but werewolves are real. I wish I could tell you different and I wish we'd found you sooner so you could have the cure, but that just isn't gonna happen. Now, none of us wanna kill you. It's what I've done in the past, but my family are all about saving innocents. So, we wanna save you, in some way."

"I don't understand any of this."

"You need to believe me that you're a werewolf. Every full moon, you need to lock yourself away—we can help—so you don't hurt others. I'll work with hunters I know to find a way to keep you safe during those periods, and the rest of the month you can live normally."

"This is ridiculous." Madison shook her head, refusing to believe Dean. He shrugged his shoulders, stood and pulled out his gun. Cocking it, he aimed it at her head.

"Dean!" Adam shouted, rushing over to his brother, but Prue caught his attention by holding her hand out, "You can't let him just do this."

Madison looked at the gun, eyes growing wide, "Please, don't...you don't have to..."

"If you can't believe me and can't do this, I'm gonna have to kill you," Dean explained, "I can't let other innocents die because of you. We're already gonna hunt this werewolf that attacked you tonight."

Madison realized that she had two choices, but how could she believe that she was a fictional monster? It was just too much.

* * *

Knowing that there was still a werewolf out there killing people regularly, Sam, Phoebe and Piper put a plan together to get it. While they knew it was an innocent person by day, the amount of people this werewolf had killed was a cause for concern. Every full moon there were deaths, full moons that stretched months back. How hadn't they realized this?

By the time night fell, the three witches with Darryl made their way down to Hunter's Point. Getting the confirmation that Madison had been attacked there gave them the surety they needed to know the werewolf would be there.

Sure enough, they watched as a hooker ran away from a creature behind her. Fear ran through her, as she tried desperately to save her own life. She knew she shouldn't have been out here. The last few months had led to her friends and competition die. But she needed the money. She needed to go where the clients would be.

Glancing behind her, she didn't realize that the man had been faster than her. She ran straight into him, screaming at the top of her lungs for help.

"Hey!" Piper shouted, flicking her wrists. The werewolf and the hooker both froze on the spot, Darryl freezing behind the three witches.

"Now what?" Phoebe asked.

"We see if we can stop him," Sam explained, "And get the girl away. Piper, can you just unfreeze the girl?"

"Erm, I'm not sure." Piper said, before flicking her wrists. Only the girl started moving and screaming at the top of her lungs again. When she realized the man in front of her wasn't moving, she fought her way out of his grasp. The three witches rushed over to her, Phoebe ushering her out of the way of the werewolf.

"Go," she said, "Get out of here and don't come back."

The girl didn't need telling twice, rushing off as quickly as she could. Before the witches could do anything, the werewolf unfroze. Realizing his prey was no longer in his hands, he looked around. Seeing the witches, she growled at them. To him, they were just more food, and he got ready to launch. Sam had no choice but to fire the gun, hitting the werewolf's shoulder and arm. The werewolf yelled out in pain, before rushing away from the three witches to live another day.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at Madison's, they were dealing with the turned Madison. As soon as the moon rose, the witches and Andy just watched as her fingernails grew and her eyes turned blue. Dean had raised his gun, more of a precaution, but Adam and Prue were a step ahead of him. They'd managed to use their telekinesis to force her into her bedroom and into the wardrobe.

From there, they could lock her into the room. Maybe this would help her realize that she wasn't just plain old Madison anymore.

Sure enough, as the moon disappeared and the sun rose, Madison returned to normal. Waking up from the floor of her closet, she looked around in confusion. The closet door opened, and she could finally see the claw marks in the door. Then she noticed Dean holding his pistol in his hand, watching her carefully.

"What happened?"

"Exactly what we were trying to tell you about," Adam explained, "You turned."

Madison looked back at the closet, shaking her head in shock. It suddenly dawned on her. She was a werewolf and there was nothing anyone could do.

"You're gonna had to kill me, right?" Madison said, looking at Dean. When he shook her head, she didn't know whether to feel relieved or scared. She clearly had no control over this, but that didn't mean she wanted to die.

"We want to help.," Andy explained, "You may not be able to control it, but that doesn't mean you have to let three nights control you."

"What can you possibly do?"

It was then that Dean went back to the conversation they'd had the day before. Maybe there was a way to protect others from her three nights of the month.

* * *

By the time Prue, Dean, Adam and Andy got back to the Manor, Piper, Phoebe, Sam and Darryl were waiting for them with the bad news. The werewolf last night had gotten away, so they would have to deal with it the next month. The good news was that Madison was willing to work with them each month.

"I'll use my contacts," Dean explained, "There must be something that can keep her safe. Hell, maybe there's something in the Book of Shadows that will keep her locked away for the three nights she turns."

Phoebe nodded her head at the idea. She would happily go through the Book of Shadows again to find something that could help them. But there was something she wanted to find out, first, "so, you and Jo. What is going on?"

Dean scoffed, refusing to answer. Walking into the living room, he poured himself some whiskey before sitting on the couch.

"Dean?" Piper watched her cousin cautiously, following him into the living room.

Looking between Prue and Piper, Dean clenched his jaw and spoke, "You were right. She's pregnant."

"What?" Sam frowned with surprised, not taking his eyes off his brother, "Jo...you and Jo are having a baby?"

"But I've not been with her lately," Dean continued, rather than answer his brother, "I've been helping Dan. With Yellow Eyes taking over Jenny...I said I'd help him save her and keep my family protected. That doesn't just include you guys anymore but Jo and my daughter, too."

The other witches and two detectives watched Dean in silence. Finally Prue cleared her throat, "So, how can we help?"

"You're not getting mixed in this." Dean shook his head, looking directly at his eldest cousin.

"Screw that, Dean," Adam now joined in, "This is all our fight. The Yellow Eyed dick killed me.

"It's because of him that Uncle John sold his soul and is being traded in the Underworld somewhere..." Phoebe started, but suddenly closed her mouth. Everyone looked at her, as they realized she and Dean were keeping something from him.

"What!" Andy shouted, looking at his sister-in-law. Phoebe closed her eyes, realizing she'd let the cat out of the bag. Dean sighed with frustration, mumbling his baby cousin's name under his breath.

Adam's frown deepened, "What do you mean Dad's being traded..."

"The demon might be lying..." Phoebe pointed out, but Dean shook his head. It was time to tell his family the whole truth about everything he'd learned the day before, along with everything else he'd been keeping a secret for the last week or so. This wasn't going to be easy.

 **Guest Credits:**

Dorian Gregory as Darryl

Greg Vaughn as Dan

Rachel Miller as Meg

Vincent Gale as Evan Hudson

John Lafayette as George Darrow

La Monde Byrd as Robert Johnson

Emmanuelle Vaugier as Madison

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed this episode and the slight changes from the original. I didn't agree with killing Madison, because there is always an option: Buffy and Angel managed it! As for the whole Heaven and Hell thing, I don't want to go that route and you possibly noticed that when I made Castiel a whitelighter and not an angel. While there are hellhounds, they're not quite going to be the same lore as Supernatural. When it comes to the soul selling, think the route Charmed took when Paige sacrificed her own soul for her boss in Season 6.**

 **Please do review. I'd love to hear what you think.**


	15. Episode 15: In the Nicklar of Time

**Author note: Hi everyone! Very long time no see, right? I want to apologise for the over-a-year wait for a new chapter to the story. I didn't mean to leave it abandoned. An international move, a family, and a business aren't easy to put together and it's taken me this long to recharge my batteries and find some sort of time.**

 **There are a few chapters I've found on a memory stick that I never posted here for the story. I'll post them over the next few weeks and will hopefully have time to write the final episodes of the season. I do want to finish this.**

Episode 15: In the Nicklar of Time

Piper used the quiet time to get the tasks she needed to do that day. Placing items into a small basket, she smiled at the idea of getting to do it again in a few months time. Now the news of Jo's pregnancy was out, she couldn't wait to plan a baby shower for the girl. But first it was her friends.

"Piper, have you seen my folder anywhere?" Prue asked, walking into the sunroom. She looked around, as Piper pointed towards the small TV on top of the cabinet, "Thank God! I thought that I lost them."

Prue rushed over to grab them, as Andy walked into the sunroom, his hair damp, "It is way too crowded in this house!"

Piper couldn't help but look up at him and grin, as Prue looked at his with a frown, "Really? You're going to do this now? I need to get to the office. I need to deliver the best presentation ever to win that all expenses paid trip to the conference in New York."

Giving Andy a quick kiss, she rushed out of the room. Sam walked in with two mugs of coffee in his hand. Turning to Andy, he smiled, "I thought you might want this. You know, there are benefits to living with a house full of people."

"There are also lots of benefits to not having anyone in the house," Andy pointed out, "Especially sister-in-laws who don't just barge into a bathroom."

"You know, Prue isn't going to agree to move out if you keep pushing her like this," Piper pointed out, "She wants to, but with all the demons, she worries."

"And don't forget Dean and his Yellow Eyed Demon kick," Sam pointed out, "Although, at least he's out doing something about that. What are you doing, anyway?"

"Putting Lisa Kreeger's baby shower gift together," Piper sighed, "Prue and Phoebe forgot, but I'm doing this from all of us."

The two men sat down, looking at the small basket. Sam couldn't help but pick a small knitted cardigan up, before looking at his cousin, "Where did you buy this from?"

"I didn't," Piper shook her head, a proud look on her face, "I knitted it."

"You knit?" Andy asked, realizing that people really did learn something new every day. When he looked over at Sam, he realized he hadn't realized Piper had this talent either.

"Yeah, I even had some extra yarn left over, so I made her a little bear to match," Piper picked up a small white teddy bear, "Kinda cute, huh?"

Sam chuckled, taking the teddy bear to really look at it. He had to admit it was cute, "You gonna make Jo one?"

"Or maybe it's practice for Piper." Phoebe joked, as she walked in. Her damp hair was tied up in a low bun.

"What do you mean by that?" Piper asked, looking up at her little sister. Phoebe couldn't help but push some buttons about Leo, making Piper roll her eyes, "Leo and I are not together."

"But he still likes you and you still like him," Phoebe said, playfully, sitting down. Taking the bear off Sam, she held it up in front of her face, making the bear talk, "You know you want to get back with him."

"And the minute he gets his wings back is the minute it all goes pear-shaped again," Piper pointed out, taking the bear from Phoebe and placing it in the basket, followed by the cardigan, "I'm not putting myself through that again. I will have a nice, normal relationship. Like Andy and Prue."

"You think our relationship is normal?" Andy asked, "You really think being married but living in different places is normal?"

The group went silent, realizing that that certainly wasn't the case. As much as Andy enjoyed their company, he was right. He and Prue should have moved out by now. It wasn't like Prue really needed to stay here.

Before anything more could be said, Sam put his cup of coffee down and grabbed his head. The premonitions were no longer as painful, but the shock still hit him. He could just watch as flashes of a man carrying a baby through a large house crossed his vision. The man couldn't have been any older than 30, and the baby not even crawling. Suddenly, behind the man, a ghost of another man—one in his 50s—appeared. He zapped something out of his hands, hitting the young man in the back.

Sam's vision slowly returned to normal, and he could now see Andy, Piper and Phoebe looking at him expectantly, "I think we have a ghost."

* * *

Dean had managed to escape the house earlier that morning, early enough to get to the police station on the way. He and Darryl were going through reports to see if there was anything that would indicate Jenny's location. He may not have had a way to deal with the Yellow Eyed Demon possessing her yet, but he just wanted to keep a track on her.

As they looked through another dead-end, a policeman brought in a baby wrapped in a blue blanket. The crying alerted Dean, making him look up from what he was doing. As well as having Yellow Eyes on his brain, he also had babies. After breaking the news to his brothers and cousins about Jo's pregnancy, he found out what she'd said to Prue. Realizing that pushing her away wasn't going to make it easier for either of them, he went to see her to explain everything.

"Who would bring a baby to a police station?" Dean asked, glancing over at Darryl. The detective looked up from the paperwork with a sigh.

"It was abandoned."

"That's awful," Dean frowned, watching as a group of police officers crowded around the baby, trying to get him to calm down. Shaking his head, he couldn't help but comment, "You know, they're scaring him waving the rattle in his face like that."

Darryl raised his eyebrows, a small smirk playing on his face, "Not even a dad yet and already know everything about parenting."

Dean rolled his eyes, "I helped raise Adam and Sammy, remember."

Getting up, Dean made his way over to the police officers. Excusing himself, he took the rattle off one of them and crouched down in front of the baby. The officers just watched, as Dean made some cooing noises to get the baby to calm down.

"It's okay." Dean told the boy, as Darryl dismissed the officers gathering around. Dean looked down at the blanket, running his hand over the material. He frowned at the sight of the name 'Matthew' embroidered into the material. Something didn't sit with him properly. Why would someone who clearly had money abandon their baby.

"Dean, are you okay?"

"Erm, yeah," Dean shook himself out of his thoughts, "Just thinkin' that's all. I guess it's nothing." As Darryl nodded and turned away, Dean sneaked the rattle away, hoping that his cousin would be able to get a premonition from it.

* * *

Meanwhile, in an abandoned building that used to be a swimming pool, a tall blonde-haired demon stood over the pool of water. Nicklar touched the tribal marking on the right side of his face, looking down at the badly-burnt body in the water. It was of his latest victim, a young dark-haired girl floating face down. Nicklar couldn't help but smirk, as Jenny appeared behind him, her eyes yellow.

Nicklar didn't move from his spot, but did turn his head slightly to the left. It was enough to see the female host of the Azazel.

"And what could good ol' Yellow Eyes want with me?"

"Watch your mouth, cretin." Jenny warned, walking to the edge of the pool. She looked at the body of the female, grinning at the dark brown hair floating effortlessly in the water.

"Don't like the name Yellow Eyes?" Nicklar smirked, looking down at the 16-year-old form, "Maybe you should have thought about that before you did your deals with The Source."

"I didn't make any deals," the Yellow Eyed Demon argued, "I earned my stripes."

"Not as good as The Source herself, though," Nicklar smirked, "So, tell me, what do you want and then get out."

"You need to learn how to speak to your superiors." The demon said, but it was clear that Nicklar didn't care. He just rolled his eyes, mentioning something about younger demons than himself. Azazel knew that it was a risk coming here. Nicklar had a habit of not working with others, especially those who hadn't been a demon as long as him, but the side of evil needed his help right now.

"Look, why don't you just tell me what it is you want?" Nicklar finally turned to face Jenny, a smirk on his face, "That way, I can get on with my own plans."

"I hear those plans include on the The Charmed Ones," Azazel said, surprising Nicklar. He hadn't expected anybody to know his plans, especially who they involved, "Look, I want to see those witches taken out. The one you're after I can't touch, so you could help facilitate my own plans. I just want to help make sure your plan goes perfectly."

"I don't need your help," Nicklar shook his head, "You don't even know what plan I have in mind. I might not be planning on killing a Charmed One."

Jenny's laugh rang through the swimming pool, echoing off the broken tiled walls and floor. She shook her head, looking into Nicklar's blue eyes, "All demons want them dead."

"You'd be surprised," Nicklar shrugged his shoulders, "Why do you assume that I'll fail without your help?"

Jenny shrugged her shoulders, looking at her nails, pretending dirt was there, "I assume all demons will fail, since so far they all have."

"You mean like you? If it wasn't for Abraxas you wouldn't even be here," Nicklar pointed out, making Azazel look up with anger in his yellow eyes. "Well, I've never failed, and I won't this time. I'm not like you."

Azazel was taken aback by those words. She took a step forward, keeping her eyes locked with the water demon, "You have never gone after someone like a Charmed One. You will need my help, I guarantee it. When you do, I will be there. Before this night is over, The Charmed Ones will be no more!"

* * *

Opening Credits

* * *

Dean raced home as quickly as he could. Something about the abandoned baby rubbed him the wrong way. Sure, people abandoned babies; it was on the news daily. It wasn't normal for people to abandon babies with expensive, crocheted blankets right outside the police station. Something told him there was more to this story, and he needed his cousin to help.

Rushing into the house, he called out for Phoebe. Unlike Sam, she could get premonitions through touch and that was just what he needed right now.

"Through here!" Phoebe shouted out from the sun room, making Dean rush in to find Piper, Phoebe, Andy and Sam looking through the Book of Shadows on the wicker table.

"Everything okay?" Piper asked, looking up at her cousin. There was something about the worry in his green eyes that made her worry, too. That set alarm bells off in Phoebe's mind. It wasn't like Dean to worry about little things. He just took things in his stride.

"Can you see if you can get a premonition off this?" Dean asked, holding out the rattle that he'd stolen from the police station and ignoring Piper completely. It wasn't that he was trying to be rude, but something seemed completely off for him.

Nodding, Phoebe took the rattle, as Dean now looked at his brother and other cousin, "You have a demon?"

"Not sure," Sam shook his head, "I think ghost...where have you come from?"

"The police station," Dean answered, just as Phoebe gasped, gripping the rattle tighter. Sam hadn't missed the fact that it was a baby's rattle in Phoebe's hand, "There was an abandoned baby..."

Phoebe's eyes shot open and she looked directly at Sam, "The ghost you saw, was it a man, about 50 wearing a really smart suit?"

"Yeah, greying hair and..." Sam started but then frowned, "You don't get premonitions in color, do you?"

Phoebe shook her head, but now looked between Sam and Dean, "We need to get to the police station and get that baby."

"You can't just take an abandoned baby, Phoebe," Andy shook his head, "That's not the way this works."

"Can you pull some strings?" Dean asked, "Something seemed off for me when I was in there."

Andy sighed, knowing that once again they were asking him to put his career in jeopardy for a good reason. Nodding his head, Andy stood, "I'll see what I can do. No promises, though."

* * *

Aviva looked down at herself. This was her worst nightmare. Why did school have to decide that swimming was a good sport for them all to take part in this semester in gym? It could have been anything other than swimming. The idea of wearing this swimming costume in front of everyone else in the school made her stomach turn.

With a deep breath, she decided it was time to get herself out there. Taking a deep breath, she rushed through the empty changing room. Everyone was obviously already out at the side of the pool. Great, that would mean everyone could watch her walk out of the changing rooms. Nothing like that to make her feel more self conscious.

Looking up, she groaned, "Have I told you how much I really hate swimming?"

Finally, getting to the poolside, she looked around. Nobody was there yet. She was sure the changing room had already been full of girls getting ready for gym, but maybe they were girls changing out of their swimsuits. Aviva had hid in the corner, and hadn't really seen who was in the locker room at the time. Maybe she was the first one out, making her groan again as she realized that all eyes would be on here when everyone else came out.

Taking a seat on the benches, Aviva waited as patiently as she could. She couldn't help but cross her arms around herself defensively and tap her heels nervously.

"I always find getting in the water helps me relax." A boy said from behind, making Aviva jump. She looked around to see a boy with curly brown hair and striking blue eyes behind her.

"I didn't know anyone else was out here."

"I think we're the first ones," the boy said, "I'm Nick by the way."

Aviva smiled nervously, "Aviva. Are you new here? I've never seen you around?"

Nick chuckled at the comment, nodding his head, "I started today. Was quite glad to see that swimming was one of my first lessons."

"I'm glad you like it," Aviva couldn't help but grumble, "I hate swimming."

"Now, how could you hate something like swimming?" Nick asked, "Being in the water, feeling weightless? Letting all your troubles pass you by through your muscles and into the water? It's the greatest feeling in the world."

Aviva couldn't agree with him, but shrugged her shoulders. She didn't really want to get into this with the new kid in school. The boy looked at the water and then back at Aviva.

"Hey, why don't you get in with me and we can chat and swim," Nick suggested, "I'll prove to you that swimming is great."

At first she wanted to shake her head, but then really thought about it. If she was in the water by the time the others got out, she'd be safe from the stares. Nodding, she accepted his offer and climbed into the pool. Nick just jumped straight in, making the biggest splash Aviva had ever seen. She couldn't be mad when she saw his face light up with laughter, "You really do like the water, huh?"

"Love it." Nick winked, before swimming out and getting Aviva to follow him. Suddenly something behind Aviva caught Nick's eye, making him frown, "I'll be right back. Nature calling."

"I understand." Aviva nodded, watching as Nick climbed out of the pool and crossed to the restroom door. Nick waved as he walked into the men's restroom, and then looked around. Placing a plug in one of the sinks, he ran the tap and looked through the mirror. Azazel in the form of the 16-year-old girl stood behind him.

"What do you want now?"

"I'm just watching this plan of yours," the Yellow Eyed Demon shrugged Jenny's shoulders, "I wanted to see how trapping that useless witch out there will help you trap a Charmed One."

"You'll see." Nick shrugged his shoulders.

"This is going to be the death of you," Jenny shook her head, "The Charmed Ones will call each other. They always do. As soon as Adam finds out she is gone, he'll call his brothers or cousins for backup."

"Not always," Nick smirked, "I've been watching them for a while."

"You better not fail." Jenny said, before casually walking out of the men's room. Nick just rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath before he walked back out to the swimming pool.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the Halliwell Manor, Darryl had managed to get the baby out of the police station and to the witches. It was time to find out who he was, who he belonged to and who the ghost was. It was a lot of work but with four witches and two detectives on the case, it shouldn't be too difficult.

"What I can't figure out is whether the premonition was in the past or future." Phoebe explained, looking at Sam for some help.

"I'd go with past." Dean said, holding onto the baby. The others had decided since he was going to be a dad, he would be the best one to baby sit right now. He'd rather be in the middle of the fight, but could he really argue? "You know, I'm not really good with these things."

"They're called babies," Piper smirked at her cousin, "You'll have one in your life in a few months. Just do the rocking walk."

"Are we sure it was a ghost?" Phoebe now asked, realizing that the man she saw in her vision didn't look like any of the angry spirits they'd seen in the past.

"I know ghosts and spirits by now," Sam rolled his eyes, "I just want to know why a ghost would want to hurt a baby."

Dean turned to face Darryl, who looked as lost as he felt right now, "How long do we have?"

"24 hours before social services starts asking questions." Darryl explained, making Dean nod in understanding. They had 24 hours to find and take care of a ghost. No pressure.

It was just then that Matthew started crying, making Dean panic. Phoebe took the baby boy, rocking him gently. She could then put him in his car seat, helping him settle down.

"Wow, you're a natural at this!" Andy laughed at the way Phoebe handled the baby with ease.

"I can't wait to have a baby of my own some day," Phoebe smiled down at the little boy and then looked up at Dean, "And I can't wait for Jo to have hers."

"I know who I'm coming to for babysitting." Dean winked, as Piper picked up the teddy bear she'd knitted earlier. Waving it in front of Matthew's face did nothing, except make him throw up.

"Yeah, he doesn't like things being waved in his face." Darryl remembered what he was like when the police officers were waving the rattle in his face. Piper just muttered something under her breath and walked into the kitchen to get a towel.

"Ok, this better be good!" Prue shouted as she walked through the front door. The other all made shhing noises, so she didn't start Matthew crying again, "What the...Jo went into labor and delivered a baby already? Are..."

"No, Phoebe picked up a stray from the police station." Dean rolled his eyes. Prue frowned, looking at her baby sister. None of this made sense.

"The baby's abandoned Prue," Andy pointed out, "We're trying to find out who by and why."

"Abandoned?" Prue asked, walking over to the car seat to pick up the blanket, "In an Eddie Bauer car seat and silk-lined blanket?"

"I knew the blanket felt expensive." Dean felt proud of himself for working that out, but it made Sam frown deeper.

"Wait, if the parents could afford such expensive stuff, how come they just abandoned him?" Prue asked, looking around.

"I'm starting to think he wasn't completely abandoned," Sam shook his head, "This is all out of protection. That premonition had to be in the past."

"The dad was trying to get the baby out?" Phoebe asked, nodding her head. Prue continued to look around the room, completely lost at the situation.

"Right, well Phoebe and Sam, you saw the guy," Andy now took charge, "You two go with Darryl to the police station for a sketch artist to draw him. That way we might be able to ID him."

"That's a good idea," Darryl nodded, "C'mon, I'll take you both."

"Meanwhile, we need to get some supplies," Andy looked at Prue, but she shook her head. Prue needed to get back to work. With a sigh, Andy looked at the elder of his two sisters-in-law, "Piper?"

"Sure, we can get diapers and formula and all the other million things babies need," Piper nodded and then looked at Dean, "Hang on, does Jo have any of that stuff yet?"

"Maybe some," Dean nodded his head, "Ellen's trying to be prepared. I'll call her and find out. She won't have diaper and formula though."

"Great, and Dean can look after the baby." Prue nodded her head, as everyone started walking out of the house. Dean stopped them with raised eyebrows.

"You can't leave me here with him alone."

"You need the practice more than us." Sam shrugged his shoulders before walking out of the house, followed by everyone else. Dean just turned to face the baby, who looked up at him with an adorable smile.

"What am I gonna do with you?"

* * *

Aviva had completed two lengths by the time Nick returned from the men's room. He just watched as she took off her swimming goggles, and rubbed her temples.

"Everything okay?" Nick asked, walking to the side of the pool.

"I don't know," Aviva admitted, a frown forming on her face, "I just feel a little dizzy. Maybe I need to eat something."

"Well, here, let me help you out." He offered a hand, but before anything could happen the room span in a circle. Everything changed in front of Aviva's eyes. They went from the school to an old, abandoned swimming pool.

Looking around, Aviva took in all the broken tiles and then glanced up at Nick. It was only then that she noticed the blue tribal marking on the side of his face. Her eyebrows raised involuntarily from fear, and she quickly tried to pull herself out of the pool. With a wave of his arms, Aviva was forced away from the wall with strong waves. Water-based bars appeared around the swimming pool, as the water turned a much darker and murkier color.

"What the...?" Aviva started, looking around the pool. There was no way out of her water cage.

"Welcome to my humble abode," Nick smirked and then shrugged, "Well, for now. I hope you like it. You will be here for quite some time."

"Who are you?" Aviva asked, knowing fair well that he was going to be a demon. She wanted to know which demon. Ignoring her question, Nick waved his arm again. It didn't seem to Aviva that anything had happened, but she didn't trust the look on his face.

"I thought you may get cold after a while," Nick explained to her, folding his arms, "So you will find the temperature will slowly rise. Do tell me if it gets too hot for you. Although I can't promise I will do anything."

As Nick laughed, Aviva panicked. There was no way out and nobody knew she was here. This demon was going to kill her slowly and painfully, and there was nothing she could do about it.

* * *

Matthew's cries sounded through the house. All Dean could wonder was whether the neighbors would call social services thinking they were sacrificing a baby. At least one neighbor was Dan, but what would he think about hearing baby cries?

As if his ears were burning, Dan appeared at the window of the kitchen, offering a small wave. Dean rushed through the pantry, trying to calm the baby down as he opened the back door.

"Hey man," Dean sighed, "I was just thinking about you."

"While holding a baby?" Dan asked with a smirk, "That can't be good. Where's this one come from, anyway? I know Jo's pregnant but..."

"Abandoned," Dean shook his head, "My cousin and brother found out it's linked to a ghost."

Dan didn't bother asking any more questions. He just watched Dean with a smirk. It took him a couple of minutes before he walked over and took Matthew from him.

"Babies like to feel warm and close," he explained, "It's like the feeling of being in the womb again."

"How the hell do you know that?" Dean asked, eyebrows raised at the fact that a hunter could get a baby to start quieting down. Matthew hadn't completely stopped crying, but his screams had turned to whimpers.

"I come from a big family and helped raise Jenny, remember?" Dan pointed out, "This is the jiggle and when you master that, you can do the wave. Wanna try? You need the practice before your child is born."

"I'll leave it to the expert for now, man." Dean held his hands up, realizing that Matthew had now stopped whimpering and was falling asleep. It gave the two hunters a chance to talk, "So, what did bring you over here. Did you actually hear the baby?"

"No," Dan shook his head with a chuckle, "I was actually coming to see if you'd heard anything else. Jenny's mom called to speak to her but...well...I didn't want to tell her that her daughter was possessed by a demon. I can't hold the call off much longer, though."

Dean sighed with a frown. He really wished he had more answers. At least now that he'd told his brothers and cousins it was a little easier. They were all keeping an eye out for her. Maybe next time he shouldn't keep secrets.

"We're back!" Piper's voice called out from the hallway, and the unmistakable sound of the door closing could be heard into the kitchen. Dean quickly rushed to the kitchen door to alert Piper and Andy that Matthew was now sleeping and they needed to be quiet. As they walked in, they couldn't hide their shock seeing Dan standing in the kitchen with the sleeping baby in his arms.

"Dan? What are you doing here?" Piper asked, slightly defensive. She was still annoyed that she'd started falling for him only to learn that he was a hunter who could kill her.

"I came..."

"He's a lifesaver," Dean cut in, rather than getting into the discussion about Dan and the Yellow Eyed Demon. He just looked at the grocery bags and quickly grabbed one from Piper, "So, what did you pick up?"

"Just the diapers and formula for now." Andy explained, placing his bags on the kitchen counter.

"Just in time, Matthew needs a change." Dan pointed out, making Dean nod his head. He didn't move, though. Dean, Piper and Andy just looked at Dan expectantly. He smirked and shook his head, "Do you have a blanket?"

When Dean realized Piper and Andy hadn't gotten blankets—Jo was still bringing some things over—he grabbed a tea towel from one of the drawers and laid that on the table. Dan quickly got to work, opening the diaper.

"Oh, that is ripe!" Piper held her hand to her nose, almost gagging.

"What does this kid live on? Wheat grass?" Andy asked, pulling the diapers out. He went through the various types they'd bought, as Dan taught Dean how to change the baby. He'd need to know eventually.

"You've got to remember to clean up under his..." Suddenly, Matthew peed, squirting it upwards. Dan was just too slow at covering up Matthew, but Dean quickly flicked his wrists, freezing the pee and Dan and Andy at the same time.

"What the hell!" Dean exclaimed, looking at Piper. She smirked, before grabbing a diaper. Placing it over the front of Matthew, she nodded her head for Dean to unfreeze the scene. As he did, the pee caught in the clean diaper with Dan chuckling at the situation.

"Boys will be boys," he said and then looked up at Piper, "Nice thinking." As Piper put the now dirty diaper to one side, Dan pulled the other one out and cleaned Matthew up. He then placed a fresh diaper underneath, pulling at the tabs to find that it was too small.

"Ah, wrong size." Dan said, looking around. Dean glared at his cousin, but she just shrugged.

"How were we supposed to know size?" Piper defended herself, "At least you and Jo have some now for little miss."

Dan didn't seem to mind. He grabbed another tea towel and placed that underneath, "I got it." He quickly turned the towel into a diaper and stood back with pride.

"Wow, you're like MacGyver with estrogen!" Piper exclaimed, as Dean just stared at the makeshift diaper.

"Thanks...I think," Dan decided to take it as a complement and looked over to Dean, "Cloth diapers are more environmentally friendly, but harder to use. You might find disposable better with demons all over. My sister did."

Dan picked up Matthew, commenting how good he was before turning to Dean, "I'll pick the right size up for you later, if you want. I wouldn't mind going through more about Yellow Eyes at some point."

"Fine by me." Dean nodded his head, but then found himself with a baby in his arms. Dan quickly walked out of the house, leaving Dean, Andy and Piper looking at the ticking time bomb.

* * *

Outside the gates of Baker High School, Adam watched as the students piled out. He'd promised he would meet Aviva afterwards, so they could grab a bite to eat and catch up. Since going to college, he'd found it difficult to keep in touch with his high school friends, but Aviva was one that he didn't want to completely lose. It wasn't just the fact that she was a practicing witch or knew his secret. He liked hanging out with her. They always had something to chat about.

When Aviva didn't rush out of the school like she usually would, Adam checked his watch. He was sure he said straight after school. Maybe she'd been held back. If she'd been caught in detention, she would have texted as soon as she'd found out. Checking his phone, he still hadn't received a message, so he decided it was time to call her.

"Hello?" A female answered, but it definitely wasn't Aviva. There was a muffled voice saying something in the background, and he then heard, "It's Adam Winchester."

"What's he doing calling Aviva?" The voice in the background was louder.

"Who's this?" Adam now asked, wondering why someone else would answer Aviva's phone. It wasn't like her to allow that thing leave her side in case her mom ever tried calling.

"It's Carrie," the girl on the phone almost sounded hurt that Adam hadn't recognized her, "Carrie Graham."

"Carrie who?" Adam frowned, even the name didn't ring a bell. He wasn't sure it was supposed to.

"I'm in Aviva's gym class," the girl seemed to hesitate before saying anything, as if trying to decide whether she wanted to remind Adam of something, "I guess you're looking for Aviva if you're calling her. God knows why anyone would want to call that freak."

"Where is she?" Adam didn't have time for the bitchiness, "What the hell are you doing with her cell?"

"Well, I was just wondering the same thing," Carrie replied, "We didn't see her in gym but all her stuff is in the locker room. All her stuff and not her."

At first Adam wondered whether someone had done something, but for her stuff to be there and for someone who clearly didn't like her to answer her phone obviously meant something. Dread filled his stomach as he realized that she could be in serious danger, especially with the Yellow Eyed Demon out there, taking Jenny's form. Part of him cursed Dean for not telling them sooner that this was an issue.

"What's really strange is that her clothes and cover-up are here," the girl continued, "We were swimming in gym. It's like she got changed and just left in her swimsuit. No-one in their right mind would do that."

"She's not in her right mind." The girl in the background commented, making Carrie giggle. Adam just ignored the comment, as she rubbed his eyes. He needed to figure something out. This wasn't like Aviva.

"Did anyone see her leave?"

"Not that we know of," Carrie shook her head, "Mr. Tanner was pretty worried."

"If you see her, can you ask her to call me right away?" Adam asked. Once he got a confirmation, he hung up. Something was definitely up and he needed to find out where Aviva was right now. This wasn't like her at all.

* * *

At the police station, Phoebe and Sam sat with the sketch artist, describing the ghost as much as possible. Sam finally understood just how difficult it was for witnesses to do this. It's no wonder there were often problems in legal cases because of sketches. Trying to get the details and describe them really made him nervous.

"I think the brows should be a little more arched and his hair a little lighter," Phoebe said. Luckily, the sketch artist didn't do it with pencil anymore. It was all on computer, which meant lightening hair wasn't that difficult, "Yeah, that's better. Um, and his nose is bigger, wider."

"So, we looking for a murder suspect?" The sketch artist asked, looking up at Darryl Morris. He usually got to know some of the details, but Darryl had been extremely tight-lipped. It didn't make it any better that it was a Halliwell and Winchester sitting opposite him. After everything last year, the police station was weary of the cousins and their involvement with Darryl and Andy.

"Just do me a favour, Hernandez. No questions." Darryl said to him, looking down at Phoebe and Sam. Sam locked eyes with the detective, throwing an apologetic look. If it wasn't for the fact they needed to get this baby home, he wouldn't have put Darryl's job at risk like this.

"I need to know what to do with him when I'm done with the sketch," Hernandez said, clicking a few buttons, "I mean, what? Do I put it on the wire, put out an APD, or ship it to the psychic hotline?"

Phoebe didn't miss the comment about the psychic hotline and knew it was a dig at both her and Sam. She was just about to say something, when Sam stopped them, "Wait, that's it! That's him."

"You sure?" Darryl asked, but didn't even think about doubting the witch. Sam just nodded his head, adamant that they finally had their ghost.

"Run it through the database and print us a copy," Darryl told the sketch artist, "We need a name." Hernandez didn't bother asking any more questions, just doing as he was told.

* * *

It didn't take too long for the image to get a match. As soon as they did, Phoebe called Prue at work, while Sam called Dean. Sam realized the mistake he made when he heard a crying baby in the background and a stressed Dean over the phone. It turned out Andy and Piper had taken off to grab some stuff from Jo.

Prue wasn't that impressed with being interrupted at work, but this was important. She couldn't leave an abandoned baby without a family. They needed to work out who the ghost was, take care of him and then get Matthew home.

"Gilbert Van Lewen?" Prue clarified, "The Van Lewen family has a huge art collection, part of which they wanted to sell when he mysteriously died last summer. Wait, I just read somewhere that Gilbert's son died just a couple of days ago."

It wasn't something that Prue had really thought anything about, but now it seemed suspiciously coincidental. The ghost wasn't just after Matthew, it seemed.

"Hey, you wanna meet us and Morris at the Van Lewen estate?" Phoebe suggested, "Have a little chat with Gilbert's family?" Hearing Prue sigh, Phoebe bit her lip nervously, "It would really help to have an active power there, just in case the ghost shows up."

"It's not like my power does much against a ghost," Prue sighed, "What about having rock salt and iron on you just in case?"

Phoebe nodded her head with a sigh, looking up at Sam, "Yeah, we can do that. You still busy with work?"

"I need to deliver this presentation, Phoebs. I'm sorry," Prue sighed, "I don't want to not put an innocent first but this time…there's enough of you for now. If you really need me then call me."

* * *

For Aviva, she really thought her time was running out. _Time,_ well that was all relative right now. She had no idea how long she'd been down here in this pool. All she knew was that the water was getting hotter and she had no way to escape. She was meant to meet Adam after school, but would she live longer enough for him to realize that something was wrong? Would he find out where she was and how to save her even if he did realize?

Chances were that this would be her hours on earth, but she wasn't going to go out without a fight. Looking around, the room felt like it was spinning. She needed to grab the side, before she fainted and drowned in the water.

By now, her skin was pink and she was sweating. She could just about see the steam rise from the water, "It's so hot."

"You realize you're going to die, right?" Nick smirked at her, crouching down at the pool side, "Nobody knows where you are and they won't get to you in time."

"Adam will find out…"

"Well, I would hope so," Nick smirks, "This is for him. But even when he gets here, he won't be able to save you. Magic can get through these bars."

"He won't stop looking and he definitely won't give up, even after I'm dead. He'll vanquish your sorry ass."

"He'll try," Nick nodded, "But he'll die trying. He'll die the same way you're about to."

* * *

Towards the outskirts of San Francisco, where the mansions stood, the Van Lewen house was in disarray. Alexandra rushed to her husband, tears in her eyes, "Where's Matthew, Patrick? What did you do with him?"

"You have got to believe me," Patrick pleaded with his wife. What he'd done was questionable to most, but most wouldn't understand this situation. They wouldn't even believe them, "I did this for his own good."

Alexandra shook her head, running her hands through her bobbed blonde hair, "You can't just abandon our baby. You can't just do that."

But Patrick knew that he had to. Gilbert was out for revenge, and it would have happened the next day. It was supposed to be Matthew's christening, and Gilbert always struck at the times of greatest joy.

Alexandra had had enough. Shaking her head, she pulled away from her husband, tears streaming down her face, "I know you've been under a lot of strain because of what happened to your brother, but this whole ghost thing has got to stop. Don't you understand? It's crazy. There's no such thing as a…"

"It's him." Patrick shouted. When would Alexandra believe that this was a problem, that this was real? Before Alexandra could say anything else, Patrick's mother ran into the room.

"Patrick, you've got to get out of here now." She said, but a deep, booming voice told them it was too late. The ghost appeared in front of the family, ready to strike. Patrick's mother rushed in front of her boy, pleading with the ghost, "I have suffered enough. Please, spare my last son."

"If he brings the baby back, perhaps." The ghost of Gilbert Van Lewen said, but Patrick outwardly refused. He would never put his son at risk. That refusal led to Gilbert holding out his hand, hitting Patrick in the center of his chest. He toppled backwards over the banister, hitting the floor a storey below. Alexandra screamed at the sight of her husband falling to his death.

"You're stuck here, Martha," Gilbert said, looking at Patrick's mother, "I won't let you leave. Until you watch me kill every last male in your family."

With that, the ghost left the two grieving women. There was just the one male left, baby Matthew.

* * *

Adam had gotten to the Halliwell-Winchester Manor as quickly as possible. He needed the Book of Shadows right now, hoping that there would be something to help him find Aviva and save her. What he hadn't expected to find was Dean alone with a baby, who surprisingly wasn't crying. Dean had been in the dining room as Adam rushed in, instantly warning him not to slam the door. He'd just gotten the baby back to sleep.

"What are you doing with a baby anyway?" Adam asked, "Who would let you look after a baby? I'm still surprised Jo is willing to let you help raise the one you made with her."

"Watch it, geek!" Dean warned his little brother, "What you doing here, anyway? I thought you were meeting Aviva today."

"I was," Adam explained, quickly going through everything that had happened. The look on Dean's face was one Adam guessed he'd had earlier. It was a mixture of concern and worry, with some shock mixed in there, "I need something that could help me find Aviva. Do you know of anything?"

"Erm, nothing that I've ever seen," Dean shook his head, "Maybe there's something in the Book of Shadows. I wish I could help but I'm on baby duty at the moment."

"Thanks, anyway, I'll go check." Adam pointed up the stairs to indicate he'd check with their totem. As he started rushing up the stairs, Dean stopped him.

"Bobby might be able to help if you call him," Dean suggested, "It might save some time."

Nodding his head, Adam rushed up the stairs, pulling his cell phone out. He would call while searching the Book of Shadows, all time was essential right now. As he reached the top of the stairs, he had another thought. Aviva had gone missing when she was supposed to be swimming. It wasn't like her to get into a pool, but she would for gym. Maybe this was linked to a water demon. That was another angle to take.

* * *

While he'd been on the way back from Jo's with Piper, Andy had received a phone call to be at a property that he'd never expected to go to. Another team had been just days ago, but now it was his turn. The Van Lewens had called 911 and it had turned out to be a suspicious death.

Of course, by the time Andy had reached the house, he'd come across Phoebe, Sam and Darryl at the property. It could only mean one thing; this was going to be something supernatural. Maybe it was a good thing that he was the one called out.

"What have we got?" Andy asked Darryl, going straight into business mode.

"Apparently Patrick Van Lewen fell over the banister," Darryl explained, "I think the medical examiner is going to list the cause of death as accidental." It was clear that Darryl didn't believe that it was. There were just too many accidents around here. That was something Phoebe couldn't help but bring up.

"Welcome to homicide." Andy sighed, rubbing his eyes.

"Wait, do you think Patrick was Matthew's father?" Sam asked, now looking at Phoebe, "We have to find out." Phoebe nodded, and the two started walking towards the house. Darryl and Andy had to quickly stop them. While it was Darryl and Andy's crime scene, they couldn't just let the two witches walk into it.

"We need to find out if this is Matthew's home."

Andy and Darryl looked at each other, clearly having a silent conversation before agreeing that they needed to bring the two witches in. They made it to the front door, where a uniformed policeman stopped them.

"They're with us." Darryl said, not offering any further information, as he showed his badge. The cop couldn't help but mutter something about psychic friends, making Andy turn on him, "Let me guess; you wanna be a meter man? Who called it in?"

"The victim's mother," the cop soon backed down, his face turning red. As detectives, they certainly had the ability to make his life a misery, "Martha Van Lewen. She's around the corner."

"We'll do the talking." Andy warned the two witches, as they made their way through the house to the clearly distraught older woman with short red hair. She was nervously smoking a cigarette, as she took in everything that was going on.

"Mrs. Van Lewen, I'm Inspector Morris," Darryl started the conversation, "I'm terribly sorry for your loss." Phoebe and Sam could just watch as the two inspectors did their jobs to find out as much as they could, and subtly find out whether Matthew could belong to this family.

"I assume your daughter-in-law is with her baby?" Andy asked, narrowing his eyes as Martha shook her head to say that he was staying at his aunt's home. As Darryl and Andy asked questions, Phoebe and Sam used their chance to slip away unnoticed and get upstairs. They could snoop around the house, while the inspectors did their own jobs.

As they looked around, they found the room that clearly belonged to a baby boy. Sam ran his hand along the cot, seeing a pillow with "Matthew" embroidered onto it.

"This is definitely Matthew's home." He said, picking up the pillow and showing it to his cousin.

"I can't imagine how painful it must have been to let him go," Phoebe sighed, "Look at how much they loved him." She held up a picture of Matthew being held by two loving parents. Sam and Phoebe instantly knew that the father was a man they'd seen in their premonition.

"Let's not mention where the baby is in case Casper is around." Sam winked, just as a blonde haired woman walked into the room.

"What are you doing in here?" The woman asked, and all Sam could do was look at her like a deer caught in headlights. What was he meant to say to that?

"Hi, I'm Phoebe and this is Sam," Phoebe smiled softly, "We're, erm, grief counsellors with the police department."

"I don't need any counselling," the woman shook her head, "I just need to be alone."

The woman made it clear that she didn't want them around, but Sam couldn't just leave it at that. Her baby was at his house right now, "We understand more than you know. We can help you."

"Can you bring my husband back?" Alexandra asked, stone-faced as she spoke.

"No, but maybe someone else." Sam tried to make it clear that he knew where her baby was, but she wasn't having any of it. Shaking her head, she pointed to the hallway. The two witches would have to try another tactic.

* * *

The problem with not getting Alexandra to talk to them was that Dean and Piper were still trying to deal with Matthew. Adam just watched Dean trying to calm him down again, as he flipped the pages of the Book of Shadows and his dad's journal at the same time. Bobby wasn't answer his phones—obviously on a hunt—so it meant he was stuck with his own research only.

Piper meanwhile was researching everything she could about the Van Lewens online. It turned out there was a lot more than she expected to find, but that didn't stop her from being annoyed that her sister and cousin hadn't just told the family they had the baby. Sam was adamant that they didn't want the ghost following them, but Piper was sure it was worth the risk when it would be a group of witches against one ghost; witches who knew all about the ways to handle and get rid of a ghost.

The problem was they had 12 hours to figure everything out. Darryl would have to take the baby away, and then they wouldn't be able to do anything. Even if the Van Lewens did decide it was safe to take him back, they would find it impossible; all because they were trying to keep him protected.

"Well, remember there has to be a specific reason this spirit is haunting the Van Lewens," Dean said, rocking Matthew to try to calm him down. He'd fed and changed him, so it had to be tiredness, "This is something personal and he wants the baby for something. Ghosts are sick sometimes."

"Hey, have you thought that that cry is a burpy one?" Adam looked up at his brother, as Matthew screamed the house down again. Dean placed the baby over his shoulder, tapping his back gently. When Matthew gave out a loud burp, Dean look genuinely pleased with himself, but then looked at his brother confused.

"How did you know that?"

"Did you not have to do those parenting classes in school?"

"School was a very long time ago for me," Dean shook his head with a laugh, "And if you don't remember, I was a bad student, college boy."

Dean could finally sit down as Matthew was able to settle after the loud burp. Looking between his brother and cousin, he finally decided to focus on a problem he might be able to help with, "How's the idea for finding Aviva coming, geek?"

"It's not," Adam sighed, "I found something about scrying, but I'd need something of Aviva's for it to work. I don't have that."

"Could you get it?"

"Not without stopping my other research," Adam shook his head, "I'm trying to find anything to do with water demons. I'm sure it's one that's attacked Aviva."

Dean didn't bother asking why Adam believed this. Instead, he just nodded his head and pulled John's journal across the table to him.

"I've narrowed it down to four or five different water demons," Adam explained, as Dean looked through one of the pages and frowned, "I wish I could narrow it down further."

"You go get something of Aviva's," Dean said, putting his hand into his jeans pocket. Pulling out the keys to the Impala, he threw them at his youngest brother, who caught them with ease, "I'll try to narrow down your search."

With a grateful look, Adam nodded his head and rushed out of the house. Piper just watched her cousin as he started looking through the books, while still holding a now peaceful Matthew. She couldn't help the smile spread across her face, but knew that saying something was completely uncalled for. It would just embarrass Dean to tell him how great he was handling that little bundle in his arms.

* * *

The Winchesters and Halliwells had lost track of the time. After a terrible dirty diaper, Prue was bathing the infant in the kitchen sink, using her powers to hold the shower spray up to rinse him. As she did that, Dean and Adam looked over more books to help locate Aviva and work out how scrying would work, while Piper, Phoebe and Sam looked through everything they could to find out more about the Van Lewens.

Prue finished off spraying down the baby, and then wrapped him up in a blanket. It was just then that Sam sat back, "So, get this. The Van Lewen's chauffeur, Elias Lundy, disappeared suddenly before Martha's husband died."

"Disappeared?" Phoebe looked up with a frown, "As in dead?"

"Possibly," Sam nodded his head, making Prue and Piper look at him, "He took off without anything he owned, including his savings account and car."

"I think we need to pay Martha Van Lewen a visit." Prue smirked, placing baby Matthew into the car seat.

"Now if only she'll talk to us." Phoebe sighed.

Prue looked down at the baby and nodded, "She will. She'll want her grandson back safe."

Just then, Matthew started to cry, making the girls groan. Dean rolled his eyes and picked up the baby, rocking him to sleep while humming Metalica. The others just watched him with raised eyebrows, slightly impressed at the sight. Feeling the looks on his back, Dean turned to face his brothers and cousins and then felt a little self-conscious, "What?"

"Nothing," Sam shook his head with a smirk, "That was…I didn't expect you to be the one to do that."

"Well, I'm the one that's calmed him down all day," Dean pointed out, "And I supposed I better get used to this." If he was completely honest, Dean realized that maybe he could get used to this.

* * *

While Dean was getting used to having a baby around, Aviva was certainly not getting used to the heat of the swimming pool. She wasn't sure just how much longer she'd be able to handle the water. By now, she was trying to pull herself up out of the water, getting as close to the watery bars as possible. If only the watery bars actually meant she could put her arms through to get further out of the pool. The last time she'd tried to touch them, the bars had burned her hand.

As the heat rose, her vision started closing in. The outside of it was turning black, but she was certain she could see a young girl standing with Nick; a young girl she recognized.

"It won't be long now," the demon said, looking at the girl—Jenny, Aviva was sure that was the name of the girl. It was neighbor to the Halliwells and Winchesters, "Another hour or so and she will be dead."

"That won't give the Winchesters the time to find her." Jenny said, glaring at Aviva, her eyes bright yellow.

 _Yellow?_ Aviva questioned to herself. Was she just seeing that or had the 16-year-old been possessed by the Yellow Eyed Demon? That would make a lot of sense, but would be devastating. There is no way the Winchesters or the Halliwells would kill an innocent 16 year old. They'd saved Aviva when she was possessed.

"I suppose you had better find a way to make sure they find her soon," Nicklar said to Jenny, smirking in her direction, "You wouldn't want all this to be in vain now, would you? Myself, well, I'm just happy with the kill but I know you Azazel."

Jenny just glared at the smirking demon, whispering something to him before disappearing in front of Aviva's eyes. Nicklar just laughed off whatever Jenny had said, deciding that it wasn't that much of a threat.

* * *

As soon as it seemed reasonable, Sam, Phoebe and Piper made their way to the Van Lewen house. They didn't waste much time as Martha answered the door.

"We need to talk to you." Phoebe jumped right in, making it clear that she wasn't really here with the police but that she and Sam did want to help. Martha was originally going to shut the door, until a name from Sam's lips caught her attention: Elias Lundy.

"Martha, the funeral home called and they wanted to know if…" Alexandra said, stepping behind her mother-in-law to see the three people at the door at the door. She instantly narrowed her eyes, glaring at the witches she recognized from the day before, "What are you doing here?"

"We really need to talk to you," Piper said, looking between the two women, "And I think you know what about."

"Who are you people?" Martha narrowed her eyes, copying her daughter-in-law, "What do you want?"

There was only one way to explain this. Phoebe pulled the blanket that Matthew had been left with from her purse, showing it to the two women. They instantly looked at it, and Alexandra covered her mouth. Tears filled her eyes, as she realized that they knew something about her son; the son she was sure would be missing for the rest of his life now that her husband was dead.

"Please tell me he's okay." She looked between the two witches. Sam's soft brown eyes made it very clear that he was. Now they just needed to find a way to discuss his wellbeing and find a way for mother and son to be reunited. Before they could do anything though, the sound of the ghost appearing could be heard. Martha instantly knew what it was, before the blanket floated through the air.

The ghost appeared directly behind Alexandra, the blanket in his hands, "Where is the child?"

Piper quickly flicked her wrists. While Alexandra and Martha froze on the spot, nothing happened to Elias. Sam grabbed his cousin, "Piper, spirits don't freeze remember."

"I was really hoping that he would." Piper admitted, before flicking her wrists again. The two mortal women unfroze, just as the ghost held out his hand.

"Duck!" Sam shouted, pulling Alexandra and Martha down. Lightning bolts shot from the ghost's hands, hitting just air.

"We need to go." Phoebe said, scrambling back away from the house. Just as Sam tried to help Martha and Alexandra out of the house, the spirit fired off another bolt of lightning. It hit Martha in the back, but the others managed to get free. It was soon clear that the spirit couldn't leave the house, but he would threaten. Now with Martha in his grips, he looked at the witches and mother of the baby he so desperately wanted, "Bring me the child or she's dead."

Martha hadn't been knocked out but had been winded. When she realized that the ghost couldn't leave the house, though, she couldn't help but smirk, "Looks like I'm not the only one stuck here."

* * *

While the three witches dealt with the Van Lewens, Adam and Dean continued to work on finding Aviva. They were starting to run out of time, but so far the scrying hadn't worked and they couldn't cross off a demon from the list of water demons. There were too many.

One demon was only in a lake, so Dean had quickly crossed that one off the list. He needed one that could travel through water or would manipulate water in some way. That left two out of the five that Adam had found earlier.

Looking between the two demons, he looked for any signs that could help him. The sound of Adam slamming the scrying crystal on the table made him look up. Between them, they'd tried this trick all night. Bobby had said that it would help to find innocents, but all the crystal was doing was swinging over the map. While Adam started to wonder whether it just didn't work, Dean was sure that it was because the demon didn't want them to find Aviva. Something was protecting her from magic getting in.

"We'll find her, Adam." Dean told his baby brother, but he could see the hope in his brown eyes was gone. Dean wished he could do something else to help, but right now he was stuck. Standing up, he let his hands fall from the Book of Shadows. They needed more coffee.

"If something happens to her…"

"It won't," Dean shook his head, pouring some coffee for himself and his brother, "I know you won't give up and neither will I."

"We might not get to her in time."

Dean hadn't wanted to admit that that was a serious possibility. Before he could say anything, though, the pages of the Book of Shadows started turning on their own. They stopped on the second of the two demons Dean was trying to decide between, Nicklar. Looking up, Dean rolled his eyes and assumed someone Up There had helped, "A little earlier would have been nice, but thanks."

The two brothers looked over the page, frowning at what the demon could do. Adam couldn't help but speak aloud, just as Prue walked in with a baby monitor in hand, "He uses his domain to kill? I'm guessing that would be water."

"Well, boiling alive or drowning his victims would suggest that," Dean nodded his head, glancing at Prue, "Looks like this could take all three of us."

"What about Matthew?" Prue asked, holding up the baby monitor.

"Let's call Jo," Dean shrugged his shoulders, "She needs to get used to this, too." And he couldn't help but feel a little mischievous for this—and happy that someone else was finally going to get thrown into the deep end.

"We need to know where Aviva is first," Adam pointed out the obvious, "This scrying isn't working so…"

Adam didn't have time to finish his sentence. The crystal scratched its way slowly across the table, making all three witches frown. Prue pointed at it, "Since when does it do that?"

"I don't know," Adam shook his head, "Bobby said I had to be holding the crystal for this to work."

"I don't like this." Dean shook his head, looking between the two witches and the crystal. The Book of Shadows he could explain by those in the afterlife doing it, but this…this seemed off for him. Too much of a coincidence, and he certainly wasn't going to start believing in them right now.

"We don't have much choice," Adam sighed, "I need to save Aviva."

"Well, this is obviously a trap," Prue pointed out, siding with Dean about not liking it. She wasn't going to let an innocent die though, "So, we need to go with a plan. How do we vanquish this demon?"

"I'm not sure," Dean shook his head, "It's not in here."

"Well, Adam and I will figure that out," Prue stepped forward, giving Dean the baby monitor, "You call Jo and get her over here now. This will definitely take all three of us."

* * *

As much as Alexandra wanted to see her baby, she knew that couldn't happen until everything was over. She needed to make the home safe for her boy again, and get her mother-in-law back. That was how Piper, Phoebe and Sam had ended up at P3x2, with Piper pouring coffee for everyone.

"You really would be more comfortable at our place with your baby." Piper had said, but it was clear that Alexandra wasn't budging. It was too much of a risk for her son, and she would do anything to protect him. At first she hadn't believed in the ghost story, but now she knew the truth. He was real.

"I don't think the ghost can leave the house," Sam shook his head, "If he could've, he would've followed us here. He knew we were taking you to Matthew."

"I can't…I can't take that chance," the blonde-haired mother shook her head, "I won't watch him kill my son." Tears fell from her cheeks, and Phoebe quickly stood and rubbed the woman's shoulders.

"Maybe you can tell us what you know about Elias Lundy, then." Phoebe suggested, trying to get the subject off the child. Once Alexandra had composed herself, she nodded her head. It wasn't much, but she could tell them about the carving of his and Martha's initials in the largest oak on the premises. The chauffeur was obsessed with Martha Van Lewen, but that obsession turned dangerous.

"One day, he attacked Martha. My father-in-law lured him out to that oak tree and shot him in the back," she explained, looking between the three witches to judge their thoughts of her and her family. She was a little surprised to see that they were all neutral, as if this wasn't the first time they'd dealt with this type of family drama, "Buried him on the grounds and covered it up."

"That explains the sudden disappearance." Sam nodded his head, looking at Phoebe. She joined in with the nodding, as Alexandra continued to tell the story of her father-in-law dying the very next day; at the house. In fact, all the deaths had been at the house. Patrick's brother, his uncle and then Patrick. Of course, they all looked like accidents, but it was clear that the ghost had done it all.

"Martha struggled to convince her boys at first," Alexandra explained, "I didn't believe it until Patrick died. Martha tried to sell the house, but Lundy wouldn't let her. He wants her to suffer for what her husband did to him, and he won't quit until he gets Matthew."

"Well, we won't quit until we get him." Piper nodded her head once, making it clear that the baby was going to be safe.

"We can stop the spirit," Sam nodded his head, "We just need to know one thing. Where's he buried?"

* * *

With a plan in hand, Prue, Dean and Adam were now on their way to save Aviva. That hadn't been easy. When Jo turned up, Dean had gone through everything he'd already done for Matthew and everything he liked. Prue and Adam couldn't help but giggle and admire at how great a father Dean would be, despite not having the best role model in John Winchester.

They were finally in the Impala, on their way to the place the crystal had dropped; a disused swimming pool.

"So, what's the plan to use his domain against him?" Dean looked between his cousin and brother, "Drop a bucket of water on his head? I don't think he's the Wicked Witch of the West."

"I have a different plan." Prue smirked, glancing at her youngest cousin. He nodded his head, confident that this would work. Dean didn't ask. He just made his way to the disused swimming pool, the question of who had helped them find Aviva at the back of his mind. Something told him that this was a trap, and the feeling was getting worse the closer he got to his destination.

* * *

By now, the water in the swimming pool was starting to bubble. It was far too hot for Aviva, and she was in agony. Her skin was scarlet red and burning; her eyes bleary. Trying to pull herself out of the water, she placed her hands on the watery bars. They bubbled against her, making her scream out in pain and fall back in shock. Dropping her body back into the water made her scream louder.

Nicklar stepped forward, watching her with laughter, "You know, this is the slowest I've ever burned a witch. I've got to admit, I didn't think it would be this much fun. Thank you for offering so much entertainment."

"Please! Help me!" Aviva screamed, just as the sound of something rushing into the room echoed around the room. Nicklar looked up, smirking at the three people who had interrupted him. Aviva glanced across, just seeing blurry shapes, "Please, help!"

Nicklar hold out his hand, a river of water flowing towards the three intruders. They just happened to be the three Charmed witches, and the first thing that Dean did was flick his wrists. The river of water stopped mid-air, just before hitting Adam. Nothing happened to the demon, though.

"Your powers won't work on me, witches," Nicklar told him, "No witches' powers do. Not even the Charmed Ones."

"We don't need powers to vanquish you." Adam shook his head.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you that you can't vanquish me?" Nicklar asked, smirking just as Jenny walked into the room, "Especially when I've got an old friend of yours on my side. Or should I say an old enemy?"

"Hello, Dean." Jenny spoke, making Dean clench his jaw and turn around. The sickly sweat way Azazel used Jenny's voice rubbed him the wrong way, but he knew he couldn't just use the colt to vanquish the demon. This was Dan's niece, and he promised to do his best to save her. Dean now realized he was caught in between a rock and a hard place.

* * *

The other three cousin witches had wasted no time getting back to the Van Lewen house. With their shovel, salt and gas canister in their hands, they rushed to the oak tree that Alexandra had described. It didn't take long with the size, especially with the way the initials were carved into the bark.

A scream from the house alerted the three witches. As the one with the active power, Piper rushed to the house, "You two dig up the body. I'll protect Martha for as long as I can."

"Be careful." Phoebe shouted to her sister, but Piper just waved her off before getting to the house.

Phoebe and Sam quickly got to work getting rid of the soil, with Sam not helping himself as he thought about an easier way to do this, "Next time we're digging up a body, maybe we should bring Prue or Adam."

Piper had reached the front door to the house just in time to see the ghost zapping towards Martha. She ducked behind a chair, the lightning bolt hitting the back of it. Elias stepped forward, "There are many things worse than death, Martha. You taught me that. I can keep doing this forever."

Just as he let off another bolt of lightning, Piper flicked her wrists. The bolt stopped mid-air, catching Elias' attention.

"I don't think so."

"Bring me the child and I'll spare you."

"It's a little late for that."

* * *

Phoebe and Sam had managed to dig three feet but were still nowhere near the body, assuming that the family had buried him six-foot deep. They continued to work, as quickly as they could, knowing that there wouldn't be much time for those in the house.

* * *

"Stop it, please!" Aviva screamed, just as the water reached full bubbling point. Both the demon and Adam whispered 'perfect' under their breaths, both hearing each other. Nicklar couldn't help but look at the witch with a confused expression. Why would this be perfect for him?

Meanwhile, Dean and Prue faced off against Jenny. They just needed to keep her back while Adam helped Aviva.

"I'm not letting you all go, this time," Jenny shook her head, "You're going to die, just like your witch friend over there."

"Not this time." Dean shook his head.

"You can't stop me," Jenny shook her head, "Not while I'm in this body. You really want to hurt your friend's darling niece?"

"Hurt? Maybe," Dean shrugged his shoulders, "Just enough to make you feel it, anyway. Make sure next time you don't decide to invade a friend of mine."

Dean quickly started to rattle off an exorcism, but Jenny held out her hand. Her yellow eyes shone, as she made Dean fly through the air. He hit the side of the abandoned building with a thud, making him groan in pain. Prue mimicked the 16 year old girl, throwing her across the room. She screamed, just as Aviva screamed at the top of her lungs. Dean's body landed on the floor with another thud.

Adam knew that it was time to get on with the plan. Before he could be distracted by anything else, he rattled off the spell.

" _Save this witch and other innocents to be,_

 _Release your victim, let her be free."_

Nicklar growled and fired a river of water towards Adam. He was quick off his feet though and held his own hand out. The water was redirected to the demon, making him duck out of the way.

" _Demon of water, I send back to your domain,_

 _Switch places with your victims, keeping the water the same."_

"No!" Nicklar shouted, just as white lights surrounded him. Jenny looked up from between the broken bleachers that she'd been thrown into and quickly waved her arm. It was too late, though. Nicklar had disappeared on the spot, replaced with a shaking, burning Aviva. In Aviva's original place, Nicklar appeared, screaming as he melted into the water.

Jenny just looked between the witches, shaking her head, "You won't survive for long, witches."

With that, she disappeared on the spot. None of the Charmed Ones really cared. All they worried about was the state of Aviva. Seeing her skin burned, boils appearing everywhere, Prue grabbed Adam, "We need to get her to the hospital."

Before anyone had to find a way to pick the dying girl up, blue and white lights appeared around the room. Hoping that Leo had been given his wings back, the three witches looked up with hope and smiles. They soon dropped, as they saw Castiel with a stern face appear instead.

"You…" Dean started, but Castiel knelt down beside Aviva.

"You did well," Castiel explained, a warm, golden glow appearing from his hands and across the whole of Aviva's body, "Nobody has ever found a way to vanquish Nicklar."

"Did you know it was him?" Adam asked, narrowing his eyes at the whitelighter. Castiel shook his head, continuing to heal the young girl in front of him, "Would you even tell us if you did?"

When Castiel didn't answer this time, Adam nodded his head with a scoff, "You know, I preferred Leo."

"He is not a whitelighter anymore." Castiel simply stated, almost making it seem like he would never become one again.

* * *

Sam and Phoebe had finally reached a level where they expected to find the bones of Elias Lundy. Sam continued to dig until he hit something solid, "Oh!"

Phoebe looked up at him, expectancy in her brown eyes, "You got him?"

"Maybe," Sam nodded his head, throwing the shovel back up to the ground. He crouched down and started moving the dirt with his hands, sure enough finding a plastic garbage bag that was wrapped around something solid, "At least it's not just a skeleton we're trying to get out of here."

Sam and Phoebe pulled the body bag out of the ground, throwing it to the top of the hole before both climbing out. It was time to get to work. Before Sam had a chance to start salting the bones, though, Phoebe grabbed her shovel and hit the bag, "That's for trying to hurt a poor defenseless baby."

"Phoebe!" Sam shouted.

The sound of the ghost screaming from inside the house could be heard outside. Both witches looked at each other. That wasn't the reaction that Phoebe had wanted.

"My bones!" Elias shouted, appearing at a window overlooking the old oak tree. From there, he could see Sam ready to pour salt on his bones. He fired a lightning bolt towards the two witches, hitting Sam in the shoulder with it. Phoebe screamed after her cousin, who hit the oak tree hard.

"You can't vanquish me, witches!" Elias screamed from the house, but he hadn't betted on the witch and his former love acting from the inside.

Martha rushed up the stairs to the room, knowing that she had to do something to bring a stop to all this. She wouldn't allow those who were keeping her grandson protected get hurt, not after her sons, husband and brother-in-law, "Elias, you wanted me, right? Come and get me, then."

She distracted the ghost long enough for Phoebe to quickly sprinkle the salt onto the body and then pour the gas over it. Now all she needed was the lighter. That was somewhere in Sam's pocket.

Martha reached the end of the hallway, to the balcony her son had fallen over not even 24 hours earlier, "It wasn't my husband who shot you in the back, Elias. It was me."

"You're lying." Elias said, advancing on her.

"No, I'm not," Martha shook her head, "I wouldn't let you kill my husband."

"But I did, didn't I?" Elias smirked, "I killed him, like I did your sons. I loved you, Martha."

"But I never loved you." She said, before glancing down at the ground below. She hasn't wanted it to come to this, but she would if she needed to. With her dead, there would be nothing keeping Alexandra and Matthew in the house. They could move on and be protected from the ghost.

Just before Martha was about to throw herself over, Phoebe had found a box of matches and quickly lit one. She wasted no time in throwing the flame onto the salted body, knowing that it would bring an end to all this.

As if to confirm her thoughts, the sound of Elias screaming could be heard at the oak tree.

Inside the house, Martha covered her eyes as Elias started burning from the feet upwards. He screamed, knowing there was nothing he could do. Piper watched from the doorway to the room they had come from, seeing that the spirit was being vanquished.

"Martha?" Piper finally spoke, looking at the woman. She smiled towards the witch, knowing that her family was finally safe, "He's gone."

"I know," Martha nodded, rushing to the young witch and enveloping her into a hug, "Thank you so much. Thank you for saving my grandson."

* * *

By the time Piper, Phoebe and Sam had gotten back home, Matthew had already been reunited with his mother. Aviva had managed to get home safely, but shaken up after the events of the swimming pool. It had meant all six witches had the chance to get to the club together for the first time in a while.

"So, how many kids do you think Dean will have?" Sam smirked as Dean put six bottles of beer on the table. He looked at his brother with raised eyebrows, shaking his head.

"Hey, this one is going to be enough for me to handle."

"Yeah right, you became a natural by the end of the 24 hours," Prue smirked at her cousin, "Helping to look after Sam and Adam really helped, huh?"

Dean nodded, sitting down, "I guess it did. But what about you, Prue?"

"Erm, no kids for me right now…" Prue started, but soon realized that that wasn't what her cousin meant. All eyes were on her, as she took a mouthful of beer. It was about the possibility of moving out.

"What would you say if I did say that I'd like to move in with Andy?" Prue asked, looking at them. Piper and Phoebe grinned, nodding their heads.

"We'd say go for it," Piper admitted, "You've put your life on hold for us for far too long, playing mom rather than sister. It's time you got to live your own life. It's not like we can't make the mortgage work. The club's doing great now and Dean has his job…"

"Don't worry about us," Phoebe cut her sister off, "Move in with Andy and actually enjoy your married life."

Dean winked at his cousin, as she smiled and nodded her head. Maybe it was time to put herself first for a change. It wasn't like they all lived in the house together right now as it was. They could make this work.

* * *

 **Hope you liked the update. I really am trying to keep this series going. Things are just a little difficult time-wise right now. As I say, I have a few more chapters available but then I run out of stuff that I've written.**


	16. Episode 16: The Animal Inside of You

**Hey everyone! I'm getting this one up just before the Canada Day weekend. I'm going to be totally busy for the next couple of weeks between Canada Day, a child's 5th birthday, and Montreal Comic Con. I don't know if I'll be able to get another update within that time, so thought this one was better than nothing!**

Episode 16: Animal Pragmatism

Phoebe tried to listen intently to her professor, but it wasn't easy. The three girls behind her were busy chatting and laughing away. It wasn't that she was that bothered, apart from not being involved in their fun and games. The three girls were part of her study group; the main friends she'd made at college since starting a few months ago.

Since starting, plenty had happened in her home life. Dean was having a baby with Jo and Prue had gotten married and now moved out of the Halliwell-Winchester Manor. The family had decided that Dean should get Prue's room, being the second eldest out of all six cousins and the one with the child on the way. It made sense since it was highly likely that Jo would move in with them eventually.

But Phoebe was happy that she had friends outside of the family. Now she understood why Sam had made an effort to keep his school life separate from his home life and why Adam kept his college friends away from the Winchester brothers and Halliwell sisters. It was to have something that was just theirs.

When the girls giggled again, Phoebe turned around with a smirk, "What's up with my study group having fun without me?"

"Sorry, Phoebe, you looked busy." Andrea, the pretty one—as Phoebe had decided to nicknameher—said. Maybe that was the truth. Phoebe had been trying to make notes. There was a high chance that the information the professor was sharing would be on finals in a couple of months. She wanted to make sure she passed, especially considering how hard she had to prove that she was worthy of a place in college.

As the professor dismissed the class, Phoebe and the girls could finally talk. The young witch looked at the red book the girls were laughing at and frowned, "Is that a book of love spells?"

"Yeah," Andrea said, tucking a strand of her blonde hair behind her right ear, "Found it in the Valentine display over at the campus bookstore." Handing it to Phoebe, she waited for a reaction. The youngest Halliwell sister just looked at the spell they were laughing about.

"It's stupid." Tessa, the dark-haired exotic beauty, said.

"It's not." Argued Brooke, the southern 18-year-old with black geeky glasses and a penchant for superhero t-shirts. How the four girls had become such friends Phoebe would never know, but she was grateful for it. They were just the friends she needed in this class, and smarter than they all looked. It was just clear that sometimes they didn't act so smart.

"We just figured, you know," Andrea shrugged, defending their decision to get the book, "Since we're dateless this year, maybe it'll give us some laughs."

Phoebe couldn't help but laugh at the wording in the book. It was completely wrong, and the young witch couldn't help but point that out to her friends, "They've got this backwards. You'd never say it in that order. First you say what's lacking and then what's needed."

Quickly rattling off an idea for a real love spell, Phoebe winked at the three girls. They just stared at her in shock, and she realized that she would have to explain how should could possibly know something like that. Telling them her family came from a long line of witches dating back to at least the Salem witch trials was not going to cut it, "Um, I'm doing a paper on the growing popularity of witchcraft. Hey, if you guys want something fun to do tomorrow night, you should check out my sister's club."

She was always going to invite them, but this was just the perfect chance to change the subject. Handing them each flyers, she pointed out that dates were not a requirement. After all, most of the Halliwell and Winchester families would turn up dateless. Phoebe couldn't help but wonder to herself if she would have felt safe inviting them if Dean was still single. He would definitely have hit on Andrea, if not Tessa too. Brooke would have likely been the one left out.

"We'll be there." Tessa nodded her head with a small smile. She could be shy, despite her beauty.

With that, Phoebe stood up and made her way out of the classroom, passing a boy on the way out. She handed him a flyer, telling him he should come to the party. She wasn't going to tell him that she'd noticed him staring at her earlier.

"Why should I come?" The boy asked, making Phoebe wink. He should go because she was going to be there.

* * *

Dean sat at the Roadhouse bar, just watching Jo as she tried her best to stop the growing baby bump from hitting everything. Jo's small frame hadn't helped her much. At five months pregnant, she looked much bigger than she really was. The baby was clearly sitting forward, and that had led to many people telling her that it just had to be a boy. Baby girls liked to sit low and hide…if only they knew.

"So, what do you have planned for tomorrow?" Jo asked, glancing at her boyfriend as he took a drink from his beer bottle. Shrugging his shoulders, Dean pretended like he'd forgotten the day that it would be tomorrow. He knew it would wind Jo up, but that would make what he really had planned all the better.

"Probably just hang out with Sammy and Adam at the club," he said, "You want to come along or are you working?"

He could see Jo's expectant look deflate, and knew that it was because he hadn't said anything that she'd hoped he would. But then, part of her seemed to accept that it was just Dean being Dean. After all, he wasn't the romantic type. So what if it was Valentine's Day tomorrow? Dean Winchester would not be seen dead in a restaurant, dressed up smart, taking his pregnant girlfriend out on a date.

And she would be right. That wasn't what Dean had planned. As Ellen walked into the bar, he couldn't help but wink at her. She shook her head, disapprovingly but got on with her work. This was up to the lovers to deal with.

* * *

Back at the college dorms, Andrea, Tessa and Brooke walked into their shared room. The three of them had one of the only three-person dorm rooms on the whole of campus. At first, they didn't really like the idea, until they found out they shared some of the same classes. Now they loved it.

Sharing the room had meant they could try out all sorts of experiments. Their latest was to see if the love spell they'd found would really work. Looking at the three animals—the pig, rabbit and snake—in the room, the three girls crowded round, but not all were as confident as each other.

"Okay, I'm freaked," Tessa looked at her two roommates, "Can we turn some lights on?"

"No, we can't. Can we?" Brooke glanced over to Andrea, who shook her head. It wasn't that the spell needed the lights out, but they knew it would spoil the mood. They wanted to do this just right.

"C'mon, it says to join hands." Andrea said, placing the book on the floor so all three of them could see it. As they joined hands, Tessa looked down at the three animals. She really worried about hurting them, considering she'd promised her friend Ben that he would get his pig back tomorrow; and she meant alive and well.

"It's a joke spell, Tessa," Brooke laughed. The dark hair did not cover up just how 'blonde' the girl could be at times, "This is just supposed to be fun. I mean, you can choose any animal to turn into a man and you chose a pig."

"Well, pigs are the most intelligent species." Tessa pointed out, making Brooke roll her eyes. It now made more sense why Andrea chose the rabbit if they were going off of stereotypes. Brooke had just picked the snake because she really liked them.

"Okay, let's do this. Say it with me." Andrea instructed, and the three girls read the spell out of the little red book.

" _From strike of twelve count 24,_

 _That's how long this spell is for._

 _Turn these gifts into a mate,_

 _And then my lonely heart abate."_

It wasn't until the three girls breathed out that they realized they had all held their breaths, waiting for something to happen. Of course it hadn't, and even though they'd really expected it they couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed. Part of all three of them had hoped magic was somewhat real.

"Okay, that was fun," Tessa sighed, pulling away from her two roommates, "Can I go now?"

"Wait, didn't Phoebe say some of the words were wrong?" Andrea asked, quickly searching in her bag for something. One thing Phoebe hadn't realized was that Andrea recorded all her lectures. It allowed her to lose concentration now and then. She'd just happened to have the recorder still playing when Phoebe shared her version of the love spell. Rewinding the track, Andrea pressed play and found the spot with Phoebe's voice.

" _From strike of twelve count 24,_

 _That's how long the spell is for._

 _If to abate my lonely heart,_

 _Enchant these gifts I thee impart."_

Smoke filled the room, along with a bright light. As the smoke cleared, the three girls looked down at the space where the three animals had originally been. Except now they weren't exactly animals. They were three very naked men.

* * *

Opening Credits Roll

* * *

Prue put up the last of her books on the shelf and then stood back, admiring everything. Prue had made the decision last week to finally move in with Andy. Over the last seven days they'd made sure there was space for all of Prue's essentials and keepsakes, especially her books, photos and clothes. Andy hadn't minded giving up some of his apartment to his wife. After all, he'd been the one who wanted her to move in with him in the first place. He'd even already started to make space for her, knowing that eventually she would see the light.

Walking in from the kitchen with cups of coffee, Andy smiled at the sight of Prue. She would never see herself the way he saw her. To Prue Halliwell, Prue was the eldest-sister-turned-mother-figure. She was the bread-winner and supporter, the shoulder to lean on. To Andy Trudeau, she was his amazing, super-hero wife and a loving person all-round. They worked well as a team, even if Prue had made it clear that she would prefer to keep her own name. He knew it was going to happen. The Halliwell name meant something to her. It was the name of the mother she had lost and the grandmother who had supported and provided for her. This was one of two names that demons, warlocks and other evil beings were learning to fear in San Francisco. It didn't make sense for her to change it to Trudeau. Their disagreements would only begin if and when they had children, which after the incident the week before wasn't going to happen any time soon.

"Is it starting to feel like your place?" Andy asked, handing over a cup of Joe to his wife. Prue looked at him with a grateful smile.

"It's starting to feel like _our_ place," she corrected him and then glanced over at one of the photos. It was from their honeymoon, a reminder that it had all really happened, "I'm really glad I decided to do this, Andy."

"Me, too," Andy nodded his head, "I think this is the best decision you've ever made."

After a moment silence to reflect on their moving in together, Prue turned to her husband, "So, since it's our first Valentine's Day tomorrow as husband and wife, what would you like to do?"

"You know, I've never been that great with Valentine's Day," Andy admitted, "I tend to end up working."

"Well, it wasn't like last year's went that smoothly," Prue winked at him, "I don't have high expectations. I was just thinking a movie on the couch with some popcorn and maybe a little fun in the bedroom."

Andy smirked at Prue, nodding his head, "I think I can stretch to that."

As the two kissed, Prue couldn't help but think that she'd found the perfect man for her.

* * *

"Can you believe he's asked that?" Piper ranted to Sam, as she moved around the kitchen making lunch for the two of them. Phoebe was at class and Dean had decided to spend the night with Jo, so it now just left the two of them in the house. It was strange having Prue on the other side of San Francisco on a daily basis now, "I can't…how could he even think that he could ask me that?"

"Piper, it's dinner," Sam smirked, looking up from the textbook, "It's not like he wants to marry you. Not yet, anyway."

"But…dinner, Sam," Piper sighed, running a hand through her brown hair, "What do I even say to that?"

Frowning, Sam wondered whether it was meant rhetorically. When he saw Piper now looking at him, he realized that it wasn't, "Why don't you just say yes?"

"Yes! After everything…"

"Piper, Leo's mortal now," Sam pointed out, "There's nothing to stop you from being together. By the looks of things, They clearly believe he's better as a mortal at the moment. If he wasn't why would Castiel have been sent to heal Aviva last week?"

Piper shook her head, "He's only on suspension." It was clear that he could become a whitelighter at any moment. She couldn't let herself get pulled back into a relationship with him, knowing that she was just going to lose him again in the future. She wouldn't let herself go through that heartbreak, knowing that she could never ask him to give up his wings for her.

"Look, if you don't want to let yourself get attached, then that's fine," Sam pointed out, "But don't block your heart forever. I tried after Jess and it really didn't work. Sure, things with Sarah haven't worked out but that doesn't mean I'm not going to find the love I had with Jess again."

"But I don't want my heart broken."

"But don't you want that future you saw? The one where you and Leo have a daughter together?" Sam asked, "Okay, there will be things that are different. I'm not going to turn you guys in for witchcraft and Phoebe and Adam aren't about to hang for being witches, but that doesn't mean the other stuff can't happen. You and Leo can be together."

"We were divorced in that future."

"And you have no idea why," Sam shrugged his shoulders, "Sure, it could have been him being a whitelighter, but it could have also been just the fact that you two realized you were better apart than together. It could have even been the strain of this family breaking up. Don't write him off just yet. It's just dinner. Say yes to that, at least."

* * *

Back at the college, the three men were starting to cause havoc for the girls. The pig man was already eating through everything and the snake man was quickly realizing that there was much more to life now that they were on two legs.

"I need to eat!" The pig said, looking through the fridge again. He'd already eaten everything, and Tessa couldn't help but get agitated as she tried to tell him that Brooke was on her way back with more food for him. Why had she chosen a pig again?

As the rabbit guy walked out of Andrea's room, a smirk on his face, the snake man looked around, "You two are acting like nothing's changed; like you're still trapped in the confines of your cages. Behaving like animals!"

"That's what you are." Tessa pointed out, but the snake shook his head. They had been given a gift. They were human now, and he wanted to make the most of it. After years of being behind a glass, he wanted to have some fun in the world outside. He wasn't even going to let the brown-haired girl stop him.

"Wait!" Tessa shouted, just as the snake man walked out, quickly followed by his two friends. They didn't even care that they weren't dressed, even though the girls in the hallway were clearly impressed with what they were seeing.

Ethan, the boy who had been watching Phoebe, was just walking up the hallway with a basket of clean clothes when he spotted the three new—and very naked—men. He stopped in front of them, looking at them with raised eyebrows.

"Is there a problem?" The snake asked.

Ethan nodded, and then indicated with his hands towards the men's lower body parts, "You could try covering up, dude."

The three animals-turned-humans looked down and then at others around them. Glancing over to Rabbit and Pig, Snake gave a direct order, "Remedy the situation."

Rabbit took charge, pushing Ethan against the wall and grabbing the basket of clothes from his hands. Amid Ethan's protests, the men rifled through the basket for clothes for themselves. They would soon fit in with society.

* * *

Piper was rushing to get into work after her talk with Sam. Between the Valentine's decorations and traffic in San Francisco, she just constantly felt like time was running away with her. By the time she got into the club, she felt like the most stressed business owner in the whole world. The sight of a bunch of flowers sitting on top of the bar made her react in a way she wouldn't usually.

"Who left…."

Suddenly, Leo popped up from behind the bar, looking at Piper and then the flowers, "I…These are for you. I know they're not much but…well, it's Valentine's Day and…"

Piper stopped in her tracks, allowing Leo to rush around the bar and take the large flower heart decoration from her hands, "I…they're beautiful Leo." The middle Halliwell sister finally had the chance to pick up the small bouquet. Sure, they weren't much, but they were something from a man who had very little money. He had whatever Piper paid him, after 80 years of being a whitelighter.

The problem was Piper still hadn't given him an answer about dinner tomorrow night. She'd been angry that Leo had even asked her out—what she hadn't told Sam was that she knew how little money he had and didn't even have a place to live.

"I know you haven't said yes to dinner yet," Leo explained, placing the decorations down in one of the booths, "But that wasn't going to stop me from doing this. There's not much that I can really do, with no ID transportation and the like. I wanted to at least mark the day."

"Thank you," Piper smiled, and then reached into her purse, "I do have something for you. Erm, it's not romantic but it is your pay cheque…well, your cash."

Leo chuckled as he took the envelope of money. This had happened the month before, with Piper knowing that cash would be much easier for the man without a bank account, "You know, it looks like I'm still working for the Charmed Ones, huh?"

"Are you still okay with this?" Piper asked, pointing around the club. She had never really checked with him, but it saved him being homeless for something that was partially her fault. Had she and Leo not fallen in love, he wouldn't have broken the rules to save her life.

"Yeah, I'm happy with it, Piper," Leo nodded, "But if my being here is awkward for you…"

Piper shook her head, realizing in that second that she'd rather have him in her life than not, "Of course not! Actually, I was thinking about dinner tomorrow night and I'd love to but…well…reservations will be…"

Leo smiled and winked, "Leave that to me. I still have some tricks up my sleeves."

* * *

Adam casually walked across the campus, wondering what he was going to do the next night. Usually he had a date on Valentine's Day. This year was the first year he wasn't going out with anyone or didn't have a date lined up, and he wasn't sure how he felt about it.

Before he really had a chance to dwell on the thought, he glanced over at a slightly overweight college student grabbing the hot dog vendor, "How could you do this to them?"

Adam frowned as a group of students crowded round. The overweight man threw the hotdog vendor to the floor and started picking up the sausages, throwing them to the ground, "Run! Run my brothers! Run free!"

Most of the students were laughing, and Adam couldn't help but roll his eyes. Students were a strange bunch of people at time. It wasn't until he heard a girl scream that he felt something off. Looking across the quad, he could see a tall, blonde-haired man grabbing a woman. The woman fought to get out of the man's grasp, "You're hurting me. Stop! Get off!"

The protective instincts took over and Adam walked over to the man, "Hey, is there a problem?" The man didn't answer. Instead, he turned to look at Adam, bearing his teeth. Adam got ready to fight, but before he had to do anything the man ran off, throwing the girl to the ground.

Adam rushed over to the girl, making sure she was okay before he watched for where the man went. Once he saw him, he rushed forward, determined to get something from the man who had attacked the defenseless woman. Rounding a corner, Adam was just in time to see the man leap over a high wall in one go. There was nothing else around to help him, and Adam quickly realized that this was something supernatural.

* * *

Prue made her way into P3, catching Piper making something else with her hands, "Oh, we so need to cancel our Martha Stewart collection."

Piper looked down at the decoration she was making and smiled, "When I start making flower boxes out of milk cartons then you can cancel it." Just the one thing Piper liked to do was make things with her hands. She'd always had a knack for sewing and crafting, something else her grandmother had taught her.

"Do you need help with anything?"

"What happened to enjoying the last day of your work leave?" Piper asked her sister with a smirk.

"I haven't seen you for most of the week," Prue pointed out, "As much as I really do enjoy Andy and I having our own place, I miss waking up to my sister's cooking and the sound of my cousins in the house."

Piper smiled and nodded her head, before instructing Prue to place her finger on a knot. It gave Piper the pressure she needed to finish the decoration.

"So, what are you and Andy up to tomorrow night?"

"Just a movie and popcorn in the apartment," Prue smiled softly, "You don't mind if we skip the party tomorrow night, do you?"

"Of course not!" Piper wondered why her sister would worry about such a thing. It wasn't like they all had to be at P3 all the time, "You won't be the only one. Dean is arranging something for Jo."

Prue raised her eyebrows at the sound of that, "Dean? Arranging something for Valentine's Day? This baby really has changed him."

"For the better," Piper nodded her head with a smile, "He's growing up. It's taken long enough."

The two chuckled, as Prue noticed a book on the bar. Grabbing it, she frowned and glanced at the title, "A book on San Francisco baseball players?"

"It's…erm…I saw it and thought of Leo," Piper explained, "I know it seems impersonal for Valentine's Day but…"

"It shows you know him, Piper," Prue pointed out, "Leo will love it."

"You better have a really good reason to bring us all here, Ads." Dean's voice boomed from the top of the stairs, stopping Piper and Prue mid-conversation. Their attention moved to the stairs, seeing Adam leading Dean, Sam and Phoebe down the stairs.

"How about a man jumping over a 12 foot wall?" Adam asked, walking straight over to his two cousins. Seeing Prue, he stopped, "I didn't call because I thought you'd want to enjoy your last day…"

"What's going on?" Prue asked, looking between her cousins and sisters. Piper shrugged her shoulders, as Sam clarified that his brother had mentioned a 12 foot wall.

"Are you certain he jumped over it?" Phoebe asked with a frown, "He didn't climb?"

Adam shook his head, knowing exactly what he saw, "This was definitely something supernatural. He ran off after attacking a girl. I've never seen anything like it, but I guess warlocks could do something like that."

* * *

Back at the college dorm rooms, the Brooke, Andrea and Tessa had returned from searching for their men. They'd looked everywhere, but hadn't found any of them yet. Andrea kept saying about wanting to find her date before the endof the day. Tessa on the other hand wasn't too certain about it all. It was all supposed to be fun, and now they werehumans.

"It's pretty cool." Andrea pointed out, happy that something fun had turned out to be real.

"We should turn them back."

"They'll turn back on their own when the spell runs out," Brooke pointed out, "As long as we have dates for the Valentine's tomorrow night."

The three girls, deciding to give up searching for their dates for now, went into their dorm room. They were shocked to find their three men looking at them, Snake holding onto the red spell book.

"What's this?" Snake demanded, holding the red book up. Andrea quickly explained that it was the book they'd gotten the spell from to turn them human. None of the men were under the assumption that magic wasn't involved, but they didn't have all the details.

"How long does it last?" Rabbit now asked, holding up his hand. His fingers were slowly starting to turn into claws, making it clear that the spell was starting to reverse. It was supposed to last 24 hours, but 12 hours of that had already passed.

"You need to fix it," Snake warned the girls, "We want to stay this way."

"We're having fun." Rabbit agreed with his friend. The girls rolled their eyes, trying to explain that they had no control over the spell. Snake quickly grabbed Andrea, pushing her into the wall hard. Tessa and Brooke screamed.

"Aren't you having fun, Andrea?" Snake growled at her, "You can have so much more if we had more time."

"I don't know how." Andrea shook her head, "This was all supposed to be a game."

Snake slithered his tongue on her neck, making Andrea tense and close her eyes. Brooke quickly stepped forward, "I might know how."

"No!" Tessa shook her head, knowing that they couldn't do anything that would keep these three animals human for longer than they should be.

"We can't, but I might know someone who can," Brooke explained to the threemen, "Phoebe. She'll be at a party tonight."

"That's too late." Pig shouted at the girl, making Snake grab Andrea's arms tighter.

"I know where she lives!" Andrea screamed, making Snake smirk. That was all he wanted to know.

"Guys, I really don't think we should…" Tessa started, making Snake and Rabbit growl. Snake released Andrea and walked over to Tessa, sizing her up.

"You guys take the girls to this house," Snake told them, "We'll catch up."

Brooke and Andrea quickly rushed out of the dorm, quickly followed by Rabbit and Pig. He then turned on the young college student, grabbing her dark hair tight, "Why do you have to be such a little trouble maker?"

* * *

As Dean and Prue went back to the Manor to look through the Book of Shadows, Piper, Sam and Phoebe went to China town to get a few supplies that they knew they would need. They were starting to run low after some of the demons, warlocks and spirits they'd been dealing with recently.

Walking past a bookstore, Phoebe couldn't help but look in the window. She instantly spotted the book that she'd seen her classmates looking through.

"Oh, that's the book the girls in my class are reading," Phoebe pointed at it, "We are so in right now."

Piper and Sam stopped, looking at Phoebe with raised eyebrows. Sam couldn't help but shake his head, "Love is in right now. This stuff gives people hope they can find it."

"If only they knew the truth about magic and love," Piper rolled her eyes, making Sam chuckle. She was still clearly angry at the situation between her and Leo, especially her feelings for him not changing, "People don't realize there are consequences."

"It's not like any of this stuff is like the stuff in the Book of Shadows," Sam pointed out, "Like it really works with normal people."

Phoebe suddenly frowns, thinking about all the pieces of the puzzle. Watching her rush into the store, Sam and Piper couldn't help but look at each other with worried glances. They knew Phoebe Halliwell far too well to think that she just wanted to check the spell out. They quickly followed her in, waiting for her to explain.

"What if they got some help?" Phoebe asked them, looking up as she flipped the pages of the book quickly, "What if they somehow had help from a real witch?"

Piper couldn't help but glance around as Phoebe talked so openly in the store, "Phoebe…"

"No, listen, Piper," Phoebe shook her head, "Adam said he saw someone jump a 12 foot wall. Humans can't do that but there are some animals that jump heights. Maybe not 12 foot but what if those animals had turned into humans?"

Phoebe held up the book of love spells at the page the girls had had it on that morning. Sam frowned, reading through it. Sure enough it was to turn animals into humans, and sure enough an animal-turned-human might be able to jump a wall.

"It looks like you need to get Adam a Valentine's Day present." Sam smirked at his cousin. They needed to get this back and work out if something had happened at the college to create animal-human hybrids.

* * *

As Phoebe bought the book, Dean, Prue and Adam looked through the Book of Shadows. There wasn't anything about the man that Adam had seen, but they weren't ruling anything out. However, they were rudely interrupted by the sound of glass smashing downstairs. Dean frowned, and held up his hand, "You two stay here."

Rushing out of the attic, he picked up one of his hidden guns from his room before making his way towards voices. They weren't clear, but he could make something out about cages and rules. It was clear there were girls, scared, as men led them through the house.

"Since leaving campus, you guys have beaten a pedestrian to a pulp and played chicken with a car. Are you on something?" Dean heard one of the girls ask, as he made his way to the top of the stairs. Walking slowly and quietly, he crept to the fourth step down so he could see the intruders. There were two girls, being led through the house by three men. One was busy looking around for something, sniffing away, while the others just broke anything and everything they could find.

"Or just your average crazy?" the second girl asked, "Look, Tessa seemed fine but if she's really not feeling well like you said, we should go home. Or at least call her."

"We need Phoebe." A tall, dark-haired man said. That set off alarm bells in Dean's head. Nobody was going to get his cousin. He was about to make his way further down the stairs, just as the overweight man out of the three pulled something from the back of the dark-haired man's neck. His skin scaled, very much like a snake, making Dean cringe.

"Oh, my God!" The blonde-haired girl put her hands to her mouth.

"What's happening?" The fat man asked.

"We're changing back." The blonde said, glaring at the two girls. It was clear they knew something.

The second girl shook her head, tears in her eyes, "The spell said this would happen. Look, Phoebe's not here and there's nothin' we can do to change things. It's not like we made up the rules."

"God, Tessa was right. We shouldn't have done this."

Suddenly, the dark haired man grabbed the blonde woman and bit her neck. That was enough for Dean to see. He finally made himself known, telling the men to get back. The dark-haired girl screamed as the blonde man grabbed her.

"Who are you?" The fat man asked, but Dean wasn't in the mood to play games.

"You're in my house," Dean made it clear, aiming his gun at dark haired man. He knew he could take the fat one easily, and the blonde probably wouldn't be that bad. The third was clearly going to be a problem, "I get to ask the questions. What have you done to her?"

"The next time someone wants a dangerous man, they'll know to make sure he's not poisonous." The dark-haired man laughed, before walking over to the other girl. The blonde man laughed as the dark-haired man bit her neck. Dean fired the gun at the same time, catching the man's shoulder. He hissed at Dean, "They've got four hours until the poison kills them. You'll get this Phoebe girl here and she will make us human permanently."

"It doesn't work that way." Dean shook his head, just as the blonde growled. He pounced towards Dean, knocking him backwards. Dean was shocked at the strength behind the guy, and then realized that this was clearly the one that Adam had seen jump over the wall. Both of them were dangerous. Fighting against the blonde wasn't doing much good; he was much stronger.

Suddenly, the man flew backwards, away from Dean. The eldest Winchester looked up the stairs to see Adam standing at the top, "We're not playing your games."

"If you don't, they die," the man who had bitten the two girls said, "It's really up to you."

Adam and Dean knew they were stuck between a rock and a hard place. They had no idea what to do, until Prue came down the stairs.

"Meet us at P3x2," she told them, glaring at the men, "Phoebe will be there. Now get out of our house."

* * *

Rather than going straight home, Phoebe had wanted to get some answers from her study group. She, Sam and Piper went to the dorm rooms, so they could talk to the girls.

"How could mortals cast spells that actually work?" Piper still hadn't gotten the answer to this question. Phoebe had been vague, but she knew that her sister was either currently or had been up to something.

Just before they knocked on the door, Ethan walked down the corridor and spotted Phoebe, "Hey, Phoebe."

"Hey," Phoebe smiled and then notied the cut on his forehead, "What happened?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Ethan shook his head, "Just some drunk frat guy."

"Sounds like a lot of that is going around." Sam pointed out, wondering whether this could be connected to their other issues. Ethan decided to ignore the comment, before turning back to Phoebe. He'd just been trying to get the three girls, after they all missed a study group—the study group Phoebe had rushed out of—but nobody was in.

"I guess it's Valentine's Day, so they've got something better to do."

"Do you?" Phoebe asked, staring at the boy. Piper and Sam looked at each other and rolled their eyes. It was clear what was happening here, and they quickly pulled her away from the conversation.

"I'm really sorry but we're busy busy busy," Sam explained, "We'll let you get back to whatever you were doing."

"I'll see you later, Phoebe." Ethan said, making Phoebe nod as her sister and cousin pulled her down the corridor.

"Love needs to be on the backseat right now." Sam told them, as Phoebe stopped outside the dorm room. Pulling out the spare key for the room that the girls had given her, they walked in and stopped in their tracks.

"Whoa! I thought college boys were meant to be bad," Piper pointed out, "This place is a pig sty."

"It's the book." Sam quickly pointed to the spell book thrown on the floor. Phoebe rushed over, as a sound from the closet caught their attention. The three witches looked at each other, before Sam cautiously made his way over. Grabbing the door handle, he made sure the girls were ready. Piper had her hands up, just in case she would have to freeze anything.

When Sam opened the door, they saw something they didn't expect to. Three cages sat inside, one of them with a girl in there, her mouth covered with duct tape. Phoebe looked down, covering her mouth, "Tessa!"

* * *

The best place to get everyone was P3x2. Shortly after finding Tessa, Piper received a call from Prue to tell her about the three guys and two girls that had broken into the house and Piper had been able to tell Prue about Tessa. They could all meet at the club, where they were on neutral ground and where Prue had already told the men to meet Phoebe.

It didn't make it easy for Tessa, though. Suddenly, the poor girl was surrounded by six people; three of them especially looking like they were ready to hurt someone.

"I know you've been through a lot and it's been hard," Phoebe tried to ease her study budy, "But the only way that we can help you is if you tell us what happened."

"There's no way you'd understand," Tessa shook her head, looking between the group of witches, "None of you would."

"You won't find six more understanding people in this particular instance." Piper said with a warm smile on her face, just as Leo popped his head around the door.

"Piper, it's starting to get busy out there." He told her. She quickly nodded before turning to her sisters and cousins. Luckily, there was enough of them to handle anything else while Piper dealt with her busy.

Tessa waited until Piper left and then looked between everyone else, "It just sounds crazy and you'll think that I'm..."

"Very brave for facing whatever it is." Phoebe eased her friend. It was just enough for Tessa to open up about using the book of love spells, that was all supposed to be for fun. She told them everything, about Andrea recording Phoebe saying the real spell and turning animals into guys. Phoebe couldn't help but feel guilty at the idea that she helped create these guys.

"So, these guys now want to become human for real," Dean sighed, trying to get his head around how desperate someone could be to create their own men, "And they're willing to kill to get their own way. And they're coming here to do it."

"We mentioned your name," Tessa told Phoebe, ignoring the comment from Dean, "I'm so sorry, Phoebe."

"Don't be sorry," Phoebe shook her head, "Telling them my name was a good thing. You're bringing them to the right place and to the right people."

"Now we need a plan," Adam stated the obvious, "They'll be here any minute and they will let your friends die if we don't give them what they want."

"And we're not going to give them that," Sam made it very clear, as if anybody was going to try and argue, "So, we need to know all the animals you used so we can use their weaknesses against them."

* * *

Back at the Roadhouse, Jo found herself more and more annoyed at the fact that Dean had completely ignored the fact that it was Valentine's Day. Part of her knew that she shouldn't be annoyed. After all, this was Dean Winchester and he definitely wasn't a romantic.

But part of her had hoped that things had changed; hoped that this baby had changed things. Of course, she should have known that that wouldn't be the case. Nothing could change Dean Winchester of all people, least of all a small baby. He may have spent more time at the Roadhouse lately but that didn't mean anything.

"Jo, I'm just going to go downstairs and get some more pretzels, okay?" Ellen told her daughter, before leaving the room. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, until Jo glanced behind her to see that there were still plenty of pretzels on the shelves. Frowning, she walked towards the door but Ash stopped her.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm…" Jo started, but then stopped, "What's going on?"

"What do you mean?" Ash asked, a guilty look clear on his face. One thing that this genius couldn't do was lie. Jo folded her arms but Ash refused to let her past, and wasn't going to say anything else. It just left Jo knowing that her mother was up to something.

What she hadn't realized was that Ellen was in the back trying to get hold of Dean. There were plans for the night, and everything was in place. All that was missing was a certain Winchester witch. It took three attempts for Dean to finally answer, explaining that a supernatural problem had arose. He'd be with Jo as soon as he could.

* * *

"Maybe the next time you plan a Valentine surprise, you don't make it look like you've completely forgotten it's Valentine's Day." Sam suggested to his brother, as they made their way through the club. It was now packed with couples and single people looking to hook up for the night. And the brothers had to look out for a snake, rabbit ad pig.

Dean rolled his eyes, "I just…I'm not good at this relationship stuff, okay, Sammy. I'm not you."

"You think I'm good at it?" Sam asked, laughing at his brother's comment.

"You were the one engaged," Dean pointed out, "I…this is really the first long-term relationship I've been in."

"What about Cassie?" Sam asked, remembering the girl from months ago that Dean had admitted to loving, "You were with her for a while…"

"Not as long as Jo," Dean pointed out, "And she wasn't having my child. Now, where's this snake?"

* * *

"The place is full of snakes, Prue." Piper pointed out from the bar, as Prue stood on the other side trying to see around the club. It was Valentine's Day and Piper had a point. She wasn't quite understanding that they were looking for a genuine snake.

"Hey, I'm looking for Phoebe Halliwell…" a man said, catching Prue and Piper's attention. The two sisters looked across, almost ready to attack until Piper recognized him.

"Ethan!" Piper called out, waving him over, "She's around here somewhere but a little tied up. If you just wanna grab a drink, when she's free I'll get her to come to you."

"Thank you." Ethan answered with a smile, before leaving to sit at the other side of the bar.

"Well, at least Leo is able to be useful and is keeping Tessa company," Prue sighed, once she realized that this Ethan guy wasn't the snake guy, "It must feel good knowing that he understands this sort of stuff."

Piper glared at her sister, "Don't you start! Look, can we just get this problem over with? Do you really think Phoebe's plan will work?"

"It's the only one we have."

* * *

Across the other side of the club, Phoebe was sitting in a booth with Adam. The two worked on a spell—well, Phoebe worked on it while Adam kept an eye out for anyone suspicious—but it wasn't that easy.

"I really need the salt of life."

"How about margaritas?" Phoebe grumbled at her cousin when he made a joke, saying alcohol wasn't going to help, "No, I'm serious. Margaritas need salt. What about that?"

"Ooo, I'll take it." Phoebe nodded her head.

Adam quickly got the attention of a waiter and asked for salt, before turning back to the matter at hand, "I wish we could have gotten back to the Book of Shadows or Dad's journal."

"There probably wouldn't have been anything in there," Phoebe shook her head, "This was careless magic, not supernatural evil. It's going to take some magic to change things."

As Adam said something about not really liking the plan, Phoebe glanced over to the bar. She couldn't help but spot Ethan, instantly feeling guilty, "Why do the people we like have to gather at supernatural smack downs?"

Adam frowned, glancing behind him at the bar. There he could see a man glancing around the place, "Who's that?"

"A guy from college," Phoebe sighed, "He's supposed to be my date tonight."

* * *

Back at the bar, Piper and Prue were still keeping their eyes out for anyone suspicious. Instead, Prue clapped eyes on Andy and Darryl and she instantly bit her lip, "Please tell me you're here for something other than our mess."

"I wish I could say that," Andy sighed, "Or that I was here to pick you up for our sort of date."

"You got called into work." Prue sighed, nodding her head.

"No, actually," Andy shook his head, glancing at Darryl, "We're here more of a courtesy call."

"A friend of mine told me about string of violent crimes that lead to here. A stolen car was found in the parking lot. I called Andy and I'm really late for a Valentine's date with my wife."

"I'll go warn security." Piper walked away, as Prue thanked the two inspectors for coming to warn them. Something had told both that this was a supernatural problem, knowing that Prue was here dealing with one.

Soon after, Dean and Sam joined their cousin, with news that they'd spotted the animen. Just across the club, Snake had spotted Phoebe. Luckily, Adam had spotted the man too and dragged Phoebe across the club to the safety of their family. Snake rolled his neck before peeling some skin from his face to reveal another layer of snake skin underneath.

"Okay, how are we doing on that spell?" Prue asked, glancing at her sister.

"You know, you throw this 'we' word around, but I don't see you doing anything," Phoebe pointed out."

As the witches argued, Andy pulled out his gun and made his way towards the three men. Prue quickly panicked and astral projected across to stop her husband. This wasn't something for him to deal with. After all, they needed to find the other two girls. Snake walked up to the astral form of Prue Halliwell, "Make us human. By the time you find your friends, they'll be dead."

"Okay," Phoebe spoke, before rattling off her spell.

" _Something wicked in our midst,_

 _In human form these spirits dwell…"_

"Phoebe, no!" Prue shouted to her sister, astral projecting back into her own body.

" _Make them animals sayth the spell."_

All around them, the humans turned into animals; every single one of them. The six witches looked around, mouths wide open. Everyone in the whole club who wasn't a magical being had been turned into some sort of animal, and that included Darryl, Andy and the currently suspended whitelighter Leo.

"Oh no!" Sam stated, as Prue told them that the girls had been hidden. Piper rushed over from speaking to security, getting around all the different animals now in her club.

"Phoebe, I don't have a permit for this type of party."

* * *

"Hey, Ellen, I'm going to be a little longer," Dean said into his phone, "It turns out Phoebe's spell didn't quite work as she intended. Next time you see Piper, you can called her McPiper and ask about her farm. Sorry. Bye."

He quickly hung up from the voicemail he left and then turned back to his family, just as an animal mooed. Dean smirked, "Was that a moo?"

"Phoebe, fix this!" Piper looked at her sister.

"I would like my husband back." Prue agreed with her sister, just as Sam and Adam returned to the group with a snake and rabbit in their arms. A pig was being pulled along behind them. All the animals were quickly placed in boxes.

"We need to find Tessa's friends." Sam pointed out, stopping the current discussion. Prue nodded, remembering how Snake had told them that they had to be made human. That was the only way they would tell them where the girls were. They were running out of time to even be able to consider an alternative.

"I told you I didn't like this plan." Adam pointed out, knowing that it could end up backfiring, "We only have 35 minutes left if the timing was right."

"Wait, Morris said the stolen car was outside," Dean said, placing his phone back in his pocket, "What's the betting that the girls are in that car?"

"You think they'd hide a couple of girls in the boot of their car?" Sam asked, glaring at his brother.

Dean couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. These were originally two animals. Were they really going to think ahead about where to hide two victims? Chances were they would be close, so they could keep an eye on them.

"Okay, you go and I'll clear this up," Phoebe nodded her head, knowing that the spell was her responsibility, "Those girls will need medical attention."

Prue quickly picked up the box with the snake, looking over at the others, "We need to take these with sure they don't turn human again."

"Are you sure these are the right ones?" Piper quickly looked at her cousins. She didn't want to sound like she didn't trust them, but there were too many animals in the place to tell them all apart.

"They were the only snake, rabbit and pig next to each other," Adam nodded, "And the only ones that put up fights." Just as they started to make their way out of the club, they realized all the animals were starting to escape. Piper and Dean quickly flicked their wrists, freezing the whole scene to stop the animals from getting outside. The last thing they needed was to explain to someone why there were animals turning into humans in the middle of San Francisco.

It didn't take long for the five witches to get the boxes of animals outside to the parking lot.

"Why am I carrying the poisonous snake?" Prue asked the group, making the others chuckle. She hadn't realized that she'd picked this one up when she was taking the animals.

Dean didn't waste any time getting over to the probable stolen car, based on Darryl's description, and tapped on the boot. Adam glared at his eldest brother, "They're unconscious, you idiot."

Rolling his eyes, Dean crouched down and pulled out his lock-picking tools. Adam shook his head, "Step back!"

Waving his hand, he forced the boot of the car open, revealing the two unconscious females. Dean, proud of himself for guessing they would be there, quickly checked for a pulse on one of the girls.

"Okay, there's a pulse," he nodded, "But it's faint. They need to get to the hospital, now."

Suddenly, the three animals became men again, and Snake grabbed Prue from behind. Rabbit grabbed Piper, but she kicked him in the balls before he could do anything, "Don't think about it, Thumper."

Just as Snake tried to bite Prue, she waved her hand. The dark-haired man hit a stack of wooden boxes hard. Sam looked around, "Dammit, Phoebe's spell. She's reversed it and it's worked on all of them."

Dean wasted no time in punching Rabbit, as Adam punched Pig, who easily went down. The five witches looked at each other, just as Darryl and Andy ran out of the club. Prue glanced at her husband and then at her sister and cousins, "I've got an idea."

* * *

It didn't take long for the police to get to the parking lot for the stolen car. Realizing there were two gravely injured females in the boot of the car, they rushed an ambulance in to save them. What they hadn't realized was that the two assailants that Andy and Darryl had apprehended were really animals. When Phoebe came to check on her sisters and cousins, Prue had convinced her to write a spell that would make them permanently human. While knocked out, they could get their just desserts, and Andy and Darryl would look like heroes.

"I wonder if they ever expected to be caged as humans." Adam said with a smirk.

"Are the girls going to be okay?" Sam asked, glancing over to Darryl, who was walking back from talking to one of the police officers.

"They're on their way to the hospital; found just in time," he nodded, "They just wanted to know where the snake venom came from. I told them they'd have to talk to the suspects about that."

None of them knew whether that would ever happen, but at least they could get some closure on this case. At least there were two suspects in jail.

* * *

As the other five witches saw to their dates and their evenings, Dean raced over to the Roadhouse. Ellen was closing up as he pulled a bag out of his car and rushed in. She looked at Dean with a sad expression, "She's not happy."

"I'm not surprised," Dean sighed, shaking his head, "Is she upstairs?"

Once he got the nod from Ellen, Dean rushed upstairs. He would attempt to salvage the night. Chapping on the door, he heard a muffled sniffle and someone telling him to "leave me alone." Sighing, he pushed the door open anyway. Jo laid on her side, with her back to the door, clearly upset that he'd obviously forgotten that it was Valentine's Day.

"Hey," Dean walked into the room, closing the door behind him. Jo refused to turn around, so Dean placed the bag on the floor and walked to the side of the bed that she was facing. The red, blotchy eyes made it very clear that she'd been crying, "I'm sorry."

"I said leave me alone."

"I wasn't taking that answer," Dean sighed, opening his duffel bag and pulling out a bottle of non-alcoholic champagne. Placing it on the bed in front of Jo, he waited for her to see it. As she did, she frowned and looked at him, "I know you can't drink, so I got this one. Not sure how good it tastes, but…well…I didn't forget about Valentine's Day. I wanted to make it special for you."

"So why pretend?" Jo asked, looking into his eyes. There was still a hint of anger there.

"I thought a surprise would be better," Dean shrugged his shoulders, "I just wasn't expecting a damn magical problem to crop up. I won't make any pretenses that I'll be here at the drop of a hat, Jo. Innocents have to come first."

Jo sat up on the bed and looked at her boyfriend, "Maybe if you didn't pretend that you'd forgotten it was even Valentine's Day, it would have made things easier."

"I know, Sam told me that I shouldn't had done that," Dean conceded, "But if you would like to celebrate it a little later, then I'm right here and I've brought everything. Chocolate, strawberries, erm…the fake bubbly. It's not much but…"

Jo smiled and nodded her head, "It's something."

Smiling, Dean realized that he'd won her over. The good thing about dating a hunter was that she would at least understand that innocents would come first. That didn't make him a bad boyfriend, just not the greatest one in the world.

* * *

On the other side of San Francisco, Piper had agreed to meet Leo at a secluded spot overlooking Golden Gate Bridge. What she saw there was something she hadn't been expecting. A red and black woolen picnic blanket laid on the ground, with a small wooden basket on top. Next to that was a bottle of wine with two plastic cups, putting a smile on Piper's lips.

As she stepped towards the picnic blanket, she shivered. Maybe she should have put something warmer than the cardigan on, but she'd expected to just be meeting Leo somewhere to go to a restaurant.

"Phoebe and Sam thought you might forget a jacket," Leo said to the right of Piper. Looking over, she saw him standing there with another blanket in his hands, "So, I made sure I picked this up. It's not much but…"

"It's perfect, Leo," Piper smiled softly, "I love it."

"You haven't tasted anything yet," Leo held out his arm, indicating for Piper to sit down, "I'm not the best chef. That's you."

As Piper sat down, she looked at the picnic basket and wine, "It's the thought that counts."

Once Leo sat down, she couldn't help but see him in another light. He was the handyman that she fell for, long before she knew he was a whitelighter or that he even knew about magic. He was the mortal man that she could have a future with. Part of her wanted to cling to that, and for one night only she was going to allow herself to do just that. She was going to allow herself to imagine that she could have a life with this man she still deeply loved.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading and sticking with this. I'm sorry I can't be more consistent at the moment.**


	17. An Author Apology

**Supernaturally Charmed Apology**

Hi everyone,

I know nobody wanted an author note, but I wanted to post this to apologise and explain.

Last year everything in my life completely changed and I found myself working longer hours in a different country and the need to spend time with my two girls. I've tried to keep writing fanfiction but my time just hasn't allowed for it.

While I am making time for more writing, Supernaturally Charmed isn't one of my works I'm developing right now. BUT I do have chapters still written. I was just about to post one today from the docs manager when I realized that they'd all gone. only keeps them for 90 days and it's been a lot longer than that since I've uploaded.

Now I need to figure out where my USB stick is with the docs. I'll upload the next "episode" as soon as I can.

I've not completely abandoned this fanfiction. Eventually I will get back to it. It's just not as easy as sitting at the computer to write. I don't even have an hour to eat most days because of everything I need to do, so an hour to write fanfiction just isn't on my radar right now. BUT I have so many ideas it's ridiculous and I want to continue this series.

The same applies to other works I've left open. I really hope that 2018 will be the year I can spend more time writing for fun. As of now I'll get the "episodes" I've already written published when I can.

Thanks for understanding!


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